


Happily Ever After

by aviciousunicycle



Series: Happily Ever After [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Auror Neville Longbottom, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Like bunnies, More Lupin Babies, Nymphadora Tonks Lives, Remus Lupin Lives, Remus is a professor again, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, fluff fluff fluff, seriously the fluffiest thing ever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 20,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aviciousunicycle/pseuds/aviciousunicycle
Summary: Three years after surviving the Second Wizarding War, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks settle into domestic life. He's back working as a professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, she's training Harry and Neville to be aurors. Everything seems to be going smoothly...until some news turns everything upside down.





	1. Big News

**Author's Note:**

> If you're like me, you think sometimes about what would happen if Remus and Tonks had the chance to be a happy family after the war. I appreciate the symbolism of their deaths and understand the point Jo was trying to make, but since my work isn't canon, I'm free to explore some 'what-ifs' here. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this story.

Remus sat at his desk, eating a sandwich and reading over a stack of third year essays, when he heard the pecking of an owl’s beak against his office window. Bracing himself against the chill of early November, he opened the pane enough for the bird to enter. It perched itself upon the edge of his desk and stared longingly at his food.   
He removed the letter bound to its leg, then offered it a bit of the roast beef from his sandwich. With a snap of its sharp beak, the bird took the proffered meat before taking flight out the window back to wherever it had originated.  
After pushing closed the stubborn window, Remus turned to the letter on his desk. It had begun to unroll of its own accord, now loosed from the twine binding it to the messenger’s leg. He could see that it was a short message in his wife’s familiar print. 

 

_ Remus-- _

_ I have something important to talk to you about when you get home. Which is to say, you shouldn’t stay late tonight. _

_ \--Dora _

 

He sat back against his desk chair and rubbed his jaw in thought.   
To say that the letter was a bit worrying would be a massive understatement.   
Of course, Remus was a bit of a worrier.   
Before he had a chance to become too worried, though, a chiming sound and the chattering of fourth years entering his classroom forced his attention back to work.

However, this was not to last.   
Shortly after he had set the class’s assignment, a Ravenclaw girl in the back row shot her hand up, “Professor Lupin! There’s an owl at your window!”  
“Thank you, Nadine,” he said, nodding as he made his way back to the window in question, where a different, smaller owl was pecking at the glass.   
Remus opened it and the owl hopped inside; he removed the note from its leg as it watched him carefully.   
“I don’t have anything to give you,” he said in a voice, firm but with a hint of apology. The owl gave a dejected hoot before turning and flying away.  
As Remus shut the window, he took a look at the even shorter note in his hand.

 

__ P.S. It’s nothing bad, I promise.  
_ Because I know you and I know you were worried.  
_ __ So don’t.

_ \--N.T. _

 

He rolled his eyes and stuffed the note into the pocket of his robe.  
This woman would be the death of him.

* * *

  
Remus pushed open the door to his family’s small Hogsmeade cottage and called, “Dora?”   
The answer came by way of a thump followed by a hushed, “Not yet, Teddy!”  
“Dora?” he called again, hanging his cloak and scarf on the coat rack by the door.    
“Just a moment!” she called back.    
As if her letters hadn’t worried him enough, this certainly was concerning.   
He made his way across the front room toward the hall. Remus’s feet had barely left the carpet beneath the sofa when he heard her shout, “Just wait on me out there!”  
Remus closed my eyes tight and sighed.  
“Sit down!” she called again, “and stop worrying!”  
“Forgive me if I have trouble doing that, love,” he shouted back before sitting down on the edge of a chair.    
  
After a few tense moments, Remus heard his wife walk down the hall. He looked up at her leaning against the doorway.   
“You had something to say?” he asked.  
She answered with a rather Sirius-like smirk; it must be a Black family trait.    
“You’re up to something.”  
“Aren’t I always?”  
Remus frowned, “Yes, but it doesn’t usually worry me quite this much.”  
Her dark eyes twinkled mischievously and she called, “Alright, Teddy, come see your daddy.”  
Remus’s eyes remained on Dora, still concerned, as their three-year-old son’s feet padded down the hall.    
  
“Da!” Teddy shouted as he lept up into his arms.  
“Hello, Ted,” Remus said, smiling, as he wrapped his arms around the small boy and pulled him into his lap.  
“Show Da your shirt, Teddy,” Dora instructed.   
Remus pulled away from his son as he grabbed the sides of his blue t-shirt, urging his father to read the black writing on it.   
‘Big Brother in Training’ it read.  
Remus read it over two or three times before he looked up at his wife, “D-dora? Do you mean– Y-you’re?”  
Dora’s hair flashed to an electric blue and her face split in an ear-to-ear grin as she nodded.  
Remus still couldn’t manage a complete thought, “You’re– W-we’re– We’re having a-another–”  
“Another baby,” she said, grin spreading from her hair to her face into her voice.  
  
Remus picked Teddy up, holding him on his hip, as he cleared the room in a few long strides.   
His free arm moved to pull his wife as close as possible. He pressed his lips to the side of her head and he was certain that she could feel his smile.  
“So, you’re excited?” she asked, “You’re happy?”  
“Happy? Dora, I’m…I’m elated. I’m ecstatic.”  
“Because last time–”  
“Last time was a war, Dora. Last time we didn’t know how…my condition– but now we have Ted and we know,” he explained.  
“No repeats of your reaction?” she asked in a way that sounded more like a warning.  
Remus kissed her intently before promising, “Never again.”  
  
Teddy wiggled between them and began squirming in an attempt to get down.   
Remus stepped away from Dora and helped Teddy to the carpet. Before his father could say a word, he scampered away down the hall toward his room.   
Remus returned his attention to Teddy's mother, “When did you find out?”  
She smiled, “Today. I was at St. Mungo’s for a check-up after the trouble with that jinx last month.”  
“Everything’s still alright from that, isn’t it?”  
Dora nodded, rolling her eyes slightly at what she percieved as over-protectiveness.  
“Do you know how far along you are?” Remus asked.  
She paused for a moment, trying to remember, “About six weeks.”  
He did some math in his head, “So…July? August?”    
“Somewhere in there,” she said smiling.  
Remus couldn’t fight the smile that returned to his face, “I just can’t believe it. Another baby. Merlin. Just….wow.”  
“I know, right?” she said, draping her arms over her husband’s shoulders.    
His hands moved to her waist and he kissed her again and again.   
“Did you tell Teddy?” Remus asked.   
She gave him a look like he was oblivious.  
Remus shook his head, “Right. The shirt. Did he understand?”  
She nodded, “As well as he can understand. One of his friends at nursery just had a baby sister, so…it’s not a completely foreign concept to him.”  
“And everyone else? Molly, Harry, your mother? Do they know?”   
“Well, Lex knows,” she shrugged, “She was with me when they did the tests at St. Mungo’s.”  
He nodded. “When are you planning on telling the others?”  
“We’re going to a dinner for Bill’s birthday at Molly and Arthur’s this Saturday. We could tell them then,” she mused aloud.   
“And your mother?”  
“We’ll go there before Bill’s birthday.”  
Remus sighed happily, "I love you so much, Dora."


	2. Taking Teddy to Nursery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus walks his son to nursery before heading to work. They have a little chat about the baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Teddy so much, but I have limited experience dealing with three-year-olds. Hopefully, I manage to write him decently.

Dora had to be at the auror office for an early morning today, which left Remus in charge of taking Teddy to nursery.   
Not that this was exceptionally out of the ordinary; Remus took him quite often, especially when the weather was nice and he walked to the castle rather than using Floo powder.    
The weather wasn’t too bad this day. Cool, but not quite cold, which is nice considering that tomorrow would be the first day of December.   
So, he bundled Ted up and off they went.    
  
About halfway to his school, Teddy looked up at Remus and said, “Da?”  
“Yes, son?”  
He adjusted the bottom of his knit cap so he could see his father better, a small tuft of jet-black hair stuck out across his forehead. Apparently, he decided that he wanted to look like Uncle Harry today. “When the baby coming?” he asked.   
“Oh,” Remus said, rubbing his chin with his free hand, “not for quite a while.”  
“How long?” he asked, looking confused.  
The elder Lupin thought for a second before replying, “Not until a little bit after your birthday.”  
Teddy’s face lit up, “I get baby for my birthday?!”  
With a little chuckle and shake of his head, Remus replied, “Not until after your birthday, Ted.”  
“Why after?” he asked, looking frustrated, “I want my baby for my birthday.”  
“Well,” Remus began, scratching the back of his neck, unsure of how to answer, “the baby won’t be ready on your birthday. Babies take a lot of time, son.”  
Teddy scowled, “Baby needs to hurry.”  
Remus laughed, “You are just as patient as your mother.”  
By this time, they were nearing his nursery. Remus knelt down in front of his son and put a hand on either side of him. “Now, remember, Ted, the baby is a secret right now. You know what that means?”  
Remus asked, looking him in his forest green eyes.  
Teddy placed his index finger in front of his lips and said, “Shhh.”  
His father smiled, “That’s right. Don’t tell anyone about the baby yet.”  
“When I can tell?” he asked.  
Shaking his head and chuckling just a little at his remarkably Nymphadora-like patience, Remus said, “Saturday.”  
“Saturday,” he repeated.  
“When we go to Arthur and Molly’s for a party, okay?”  
His eyes lit up, “See the chickens?!”  
At this, Remus couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes, Teddy, we’ll go see the chickens.”   


Remus stood back up and took his hand again, leading Teddy toward the nursery.   
After taking his son inside, just before he turned to leave, Remus said, “Remember what we talked about.”  
He thought for a moment before putting his index finger to his lips again, “Shh.”  
Remus nodded, “Be good, son.”  
Teddy smiled back, “Be good, Da.”


	3. Telling Andromeda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Remus knows Tonks's good news, the next person they must tell is Andromeda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for the positive response to this fic!

Perhaps sooner than either Remus or Dora had expected, the day of Bill's party arrived.   
As they agreed, they were stopping by Andromeda's first, under the guise of making sure she was ready for the gathering.   
However, this was the extent of their planning.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” Dora said, chewing on her bottom lip.   
Remus heard her sigh as they stood on the top step of her mother’s stoop.  
He closed his eyes and smiled, “ _The_ Nymphadora Tonks who battles the most vicious criminals in the wizarding world on a daily basis, who fought in a _war_ and went head-to-head with powerful dark wizards, is _scared_ of her _mother_.”  
She stomped her heavy boot on the cement and scowled, “Of course I’m scared of my mother, Remus. She’s my _mother_. _My_ mother. The hard-headed woman who had the nerve to name me ‘Nymphadora.’ Who was born to the Black family and married a muggle-born. Who nearly cursed your balls off when we told her that I was pregnant the first time.”  
Uncomfortably, Remus shifted Teddy on his hip, “I recall.”  
Dora looked at him with a look that was pleading for her husband to tell her that they didn’t have to tell her mother.   
Half of his mind wanted to tell her that they could just go home and not tell Andromeda; however, the rational part of him knew that they couldn’t keep the news from her forever.  
Remus reached over and took his wife's hand, “It’s better we tell her now. Imagine how angry she would be were she to find out through someone else.”  
She gave him a resigned look before knocking on the door.   
He squeezed her hand a little and gave her a smile.

Andromeda Tonks opened the door and looked at them strangely, “Molly’s party isn’t for another hour. What has you so early?”  
As she ushered them into the house, Dora replied, “Can’t I just stop by for a visit, Mum?” There was more than a touch of sarcasm to her voice.    
“Well, as long as you bring this little angel with you, you certainly can,” Andromeda said, pinching Teddy’s cheeks and taking him from his father’s arms.   
“Ah, Andromeda, that’s really flattering, but you know I’m a married man,” Remus teased.   
“It’s no wonder why you got along so well with Sirius,” she said, swatting at his arm and swept Teddy away into the lounge. Dora and Remus followed, the former clearly still nervous.   


“So, what’s the news?” Andromeda asked.   
Her daughter looked at her, stunned, “What do you mean?”   
“Nymphadora,” she said, sitting in a plush chair, “I wasn’t born yesterday, you know? I’m your mother. I know when you’re keeping something from me.”  
Remus took a seat on the couch and Dora sat next to him, fidgeting and tracing an imaginary line on her knee.   
Trying to comfort her, he placed a comforting hand on the knee that she wasn’t tracing the next masterpiece upon.    
Andromeda bounced Teddy on her lap while he giggled. “When is the baby due?” she asked, watching her grandson’s orange hair toss with each bound.   
Dora quite nearly fell off the sofa (she would have, in fact, been on the floor had Remus not made a rather swift save). “How– I mean– D– Did someone tell you? How did you know?” Dora stuttered.    
The older woman smiled as her guess was confirmed, “I told you, Nymphadora, I know you.” 

She lowered Teddy into the floor and stood to embrace her daughter.    
Nymphadora stood on slightly wobbly legs and wrapped her arms around her mother.   
In a barely audible whisper, Andromeda said into Dora’s hair, “Your father would be so excited.”    
As they parted, Andromeda asked, “So when will the baby be here?”   
“July,” Remus answered, “or early August.”

Andromeda turned to him as if she had forgotten that he was in the room.   
“And you’re staying around this time, right?” she said in a voice that sounded much more like a threat than a question (she and her daughter are more alike than they would ever admit).      
Remus stood and wrapped an arm around his wife, “I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else.”


	4. Telling the Weasleys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the task of telling Andromeda is over, telling everyone else should be no problem at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this and the previous chapter are both fairly short, I decided that I would be kind and post them on the same day. I don't know if this is something I will continue doing for shorter chapters, it really just depends on how much writing I'm able to do.

Somehow, despite the fact that Andromeda had been wearing a smile bigger than anyone could remember seeing, Dora was clearly nervous, and Teddy had been chattering with Harry since they arrived, the Lupins still managed to make it through most of Bill’s birthday dinner without giving away their good news.  
Small talk was the order of business for the better part of the night.  
Well, small talk and fawning over Bill and Fleur's little daughter with white-blonde curls.   
Victoire was 18 months old and the newest baby to the little Order of the Phoenix family.  
At first, Teddy had been jealous of the baby girl and all the attention lavished on her by his honorary aunts and uncles- and his parents as well. However, as time went on, he began to enjoy having the new child around.  

Molly called out to say that the meal was ready and everyone gathered under a large marquee in the back garden of the Burrow; the walls of said marquee had been enchanted to keep out the wind and heating charms had been cast to keep the occupants warm despite the chill of November around them.  
Somehow, it actually managed to be comfortable. Which is more than could be said if the entire party had been crammed into the Burrow.   
In addition to the Remus, Dora, and Teddy, the group included Molly, Arthur, Andromeda, Charlie, Bill, Fleur, Victoire, Percy, his wife Audrey, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Neville. 

After dining on more food than should be possible for one person to make, Molly brought out a beautiful cake decorated with charmed shimmering leaf and a tall, sparkling candle.  
Shortly after all tucked into that lovely orange cake, Remus felt his wife grabbing his knee under the table.   
He turned to look at her and saw that she was looking at him with an expression that told him she was ready to share their news.   
Remus smiled at her and moved his hand under the table to take hers.  

“Excuse me, everyone,” Remus said, raising his voice to get the attention of the whole table, “We…ah…Dora and I have something we’d like to share.”    
Everyone’s eyes were suddenly on him, most of them curious (although there was something about Molly’s expression that indicated that she had some idea of what he was going to say).   
Andromeda beamed at both her daughter and son-in-law.   
Remus gave his wife’s hand another squeeze and cleared his throat.    
“Sometime at the end of next July or the beginning of next August, the Lupin family will…ah…will be growing,” Remus announced, looking around as he waited for the news to set in for their friends.    
“You’re having another kid?!” Ron shouted with a smile.    
Harry bolted from his chair and was around the table in a flash. “And on my birthday, too! Fantastic!” he said, wrapping his arms around first Tonks and then Remus.     
Molly clapped her hands together, “How wonderful! Congratulations to you both!”   
The rest of the table shared their congratulations and Dora’s nervous look was replaced by a smile even bigger than her mother’s.  

The sun had long ago set by the time everyone finished eating and the marquee was lit by several orange lanterns floating about.   
It cast the entire gathering in a warm and rather autumnal light that made everything seem wonderfully cozy.  
Molly caught Dora and Remus conversing with Harry and, seizing on a lull in the conversation, asked Dora, "How are you, dear?"  
The younger woman looked confused for a moment before realizing, "Oh, the pregnancy. Yeah. I'm...I'm good. Well, I'm as good as I was with Teddy."  
Remus shook his head, "Don't let her tell you that. She spends every morning as sick as a human being can possibly be."  
"That's not true."  
"It certainly is."  
Dora rolled her eyes at her husband's over-protectiveness, "You're such a dad, Remus."  
"Well, you know, that makes sense" Remus said with a cheeky grin, "since I am a father."  
His wife swatted at him," You know what I mean."  
Molly watched the two with a warm smile, "I'm just pleased to know that you're both happy. Forgive me, Remus, but after last time-"  
"I deserve your suspicion, Molly," Remus said, cutting her off, "I deserve everyone's suspicion and wariness-"  
"Remus-" Dora began, but he silenced her by gently raising a finger.  
"I deserve all of that, but that's just all the more reason that I'm going to do the right thing this time," he said, looking his wife, then to Molly who seemed pleased with the answer.  
Dora scoffed in an attempt to defuse the overly emotional conversation, "You'd best. Because if you think that I'm going to be chasing after a three-year-old while I'm nine months pregnant, then you have doxies in your skull."


	5. Trouble Sleeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dora has trouble sleeping, Remus doesn't quite understand why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I couldn't post last night. It was...well...absolutely bonkers around here.  
> Thanks for continuing to read this story! I really appreciate just knowing that people are seeing it.  
> This is a very, very short chapter, so I'll probably make at least two updates tonight.

That night, after the party, Teddy was exhausted and fell asleep without much trouble.    
His parents soon retired to bed as well.    
Remus was almost asleep, but he could tell by her breathing that Dora was wide awake. He rolled over to face her and placed his hand on her lower abdomen, approximately over her womb.   
“What’s wrong, love?” he asked, as he studied her profile and she stared at the ceiling.   
She didn’t answer at once, so he knew that she must have been thinking on what to say.   
He had almost given up on a response when she asked, “What are we going to name it?”   
Remus, brain still more interested in sleep than deep thought, nevertheless he asked, “Excuse– er…name what?”  
She broke eye contact with the ceiling and stared at him with a confounded look. “The baby,” she said, which made Remus feel rather dense. Of course that’s what she meant. What else would they be naming?  
“Dora,” he said, as he spread his fingers out across her still-mostly-flat stomach, “we have eight months to name the baby.”   
“I know,” she said, frowning a bit.   
Remus smiled at her in hopes that his smile would be contagious. “We don’t even know yet whether it will be a boy or a girl,” he reasoned.   
She seemed to think over that for a moment before she asked, “Which would you like?”   
“Dora, you know my opinion on this,” Remus said, “as long as they’re healthy, nothing else matters to me.”  
She swatted at him and argued, “None of that philosopher shite, Lupin. Give me an answer.”  
His eyes closed and he thought for just a moment before he answered, “A girl.”   
“Really?”   
“Mmhmm. A daughter who is like her mother…and like my mother. Caring, loving, kind, pure-hearted, and sees beyond a person’s lot in life to the depths of their souls,” he answered.  
She smiled at him, a big smile, one that reached from her face to her heart. “Remus,” she began.   
“However,” he added, “I realize that must sound an awful lot like ‘philosopher shite,’ so let me just add that I also have some deep romantic notion of being daddy to a little girl. You know, tea parties, dancing, all of that.”  
She rolled her eyes, “You’re a git, you know that?”  
Remus smiled and leaned closely so that he could press his lips to her cheek, “Ah, well, I may be a git, but you’re the one who chose to marry me.”  
Dora curled against her husband’s side, “I love you, Remus.”  
“I love you, Dora.”


	6. Christmas Shopping with Teddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus takes Teddy Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley. One of them is a bit more successful at picking out gifts than the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a Teddy chapter! I love writing Teddy chapters! Enjoy!

December arrived with strong cold winds.    
It seemed that the Lupins had barely time to take a breath before Christmas was upon them.   
Now, here it was, the weekend before the holiday and Remus still had not found a gift for Dora.   
However, he was out of work for the holidays while she was still going to the Ministry every weekday morning.    
This left him ample time to go into Diagon Alley to try to find her the perfect gift.

One slightly less frigid morning, he asked his son if he would like to join him on a little shopping trip.   
Teddy agreed enthusiastically, so Remus began to bundle the little boy up in his coat, boots, hat, and scarf.   
Before they left the house, Teddy ran to his room and dug a little bag of money out from under his bed.   
They made it through most of the day and Teddy’s money stayed safely stashed in the pocket of his coat. 

“Son,” Remus asked, looking in a shop window, still unsure of what he was getting for his wife, “what are you planning to do with that money?”   
Teddy patted his pocket and the coins inside jingled, “Buy presents.”   
Remus nodded, “Presents, eh? Who are you buying presents for?”   
He thought for a moment before saying, “You and mummy.”   
“Any ideas?” the elder Lupin asked, smiling.   
Teddy scrunched his brows in thought before shaking his head, “Not yet.”

They stepped into Rosa Lee Teabag and Remus paused for a moment to enjoy the scent of all the teas and herbs and spices. his intent was to buy Dora some of the ginger tea that she drank during her first pregnancy, but he decided to have a poke around the other merchandise.    
Teddy wormed his hand from his father’s and Remus looked toward him. “Stay where I can see you, Ted.”   
He nodded before wandering away to a rack of colorful mugs.

After picking out a parcel of ginger tea and determining that a gift for his wife was not to be found in the shop, Remus began working his way over to Teddy’s location.   
“Ready to go, Ted?”   
He turned around quickly and said, “Da, no! Go away!”   
Remus raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What’s wrong, Ted.”   
Teddy stomped a little booted foot and said, “Go away, Dad!”   
“What’s gotten into you, Teddy?” his father asked, now suspicious.   
He gave Remus a wide-eyed and impatient look, “I buying presents!”   
“Okay, okay,” his father said, holding up my hands in defeat, “Let me go get someone else to help you.”   
Teddy seemed to think that over for a moment before nodding, “’Kay.”

Remus looked around before seeing a young woman in a shop apron. “Excuse me,” he addressed her, “my son is over there buying Christmas gifts  for my wife and me. He won’t let me help him, but I’m fairly certain that he needs some assistance.”  
The woman smiled and nodded, “Not a problem.”    
“He has some money, but if he needs more, just let me know. I’ll cover it,” he said before she turned to join Teddy at the shelves.  
Remus stood back and watched as she crouched down and spoke to Teddy. He pulled the satchel of money from his pocket and let her count it. They talked for a little bit, pointing at different mugs. Every now and then, Teddy would either nod or shake his head.    
Teddy turned to look toward his and saw him watching. “Da!” he shouted and Remus knew that he would be wise to look away. So, he turned and thumbed through a book on tea growing regions.

“Alright, Dad,” Remus heard Teddy chirp as he walked up to join him.    
They walked over to the counter together and Remus noticed that the shop worker had two items that appeared to be mugs wrapped in brown paper.   
The elder Lupin paid for his satchel of tea and then helped Teddy to reach the counter.     
“Would you like these wrapped?” the young witch asked the young boy. His eyes went wide and he nodded excitedly.    
She turned away from them and, after a moment of graceful wand movement, turned back with two packages wrapped in silver paper with beautiful blue ribbon.   
Teddy stared at the gifts on the counter and his hair turned from brown to blue as he smiled from ear to ear.   
“That will be sixteen sickles,” she said, missing the transformation while she was scribbling something down on a ledger book.   
Teddy dumped the contents of his money bag onto the counter.    
“Alright, Ted,” Remus said, shifting so that he could reach the counter, too, “how much do you have here?”   
Together they counted out all fourteen of the silver coins that had been in his bag. Remus reached into his pocket and paid the remaining two sickles of Teddy’s tab.   
“That’s perfect,” the young woman said, smiling and adding the money to her till. She placed Teddy’s packages into a paper bag and handed it across the table to the boy’s gloved hands.   
His father lowered Teddy to the floor and they made their way out of the shop. Teddy smiled contentedly, holding the bag of his own shopping. Remus could tell from the way he was walking that he was feeling rather grown-up at the moment. 

As they walked down Diagon Alley, Remus felt a tug on his hand and realized that Ted had stopped dead in his tracks. His father turned to look at him and found the child looking as though he had just remembered something very important.   
“What’s wrong, son?” Remus asked.   
He looked up at his father, “I need to get baby something for Kissmas.”   
Remus smiled and shook my head, “Not this year, Ted.”   
“Next year?” he asked, trotting to catch up to Remus.   
His father nodded, “Next year.”


	7. Order Christmas Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Order reunites for a Christmas party where Teddy receives an unusual gift and Dora receives an idea she hadn't worried about yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I just can't help but post more. I'm so bad at pacing myself and making things last.

Ron and George had rented out a ballroom above a shop on Diagon Alley for a Christmas party for the Order of the Phoenix.   
When Molly learned that the two brothers were handling the preparations, she nearly fainted.   
No matter how much her sons’ insisted that they had everything well in hand, the Weasley matriarch had arrived at the ballroom early in the morning to oversee decoration before the boys finally shooed her away by requesting that she prepare some food.   
In true Molly tradition ‘some food’ became enough to feed twice as many people as were present.   
The party was really lovely.    
Almost all of the living members of the Order were there– even Kingsley.    
Which was a special treat, considering how busy his new job as Minister for Magic kept him.

Dora, Teddy, and Remus flooed to Diagon Alley in the early evening and found the ballroom already occupied by several of their friends.    
Of course, Molly and Arthur were there, watching as Ron and George enchanted some sparkling lights on several Christmas trees.    
“Ah!” Molly shouted as she saw the Lupins enter, “Bill is setting up a place for the children back near the windows.”    
She abandoned her nitpicking at the buffet table and walked over to them.    
“Oh, Teddy,” she cooed, pinching the little boy’s cheeks, “would you like to go play with Victoire?”   
Teddy nodded and held his arms up to Molly.    
She plucked the tot up and carried him over to a playpen where Bill was showing his one-year-old daughter a plush duck.

More people were filtering in behind them and Dora and Remus made our way further into the room.   
In a regular pattern, round tables with white tablecloths were set up.    
Centerpieces on the table twinkled with blue-white fairy lights and gold stars.

“Oi! Tonks!” George shouted, waving at my Dora   
At roughly the same time, Kingsley grabbed Remus’s arm and said, “Remus, just the man I was looking for.”   
Dora looked at her husband who nodded, “I’ll catch up later.”

Kingsley wanted to speak with Remus about an effort he was leading to change the purpose of the Werewolf Registry to a way to provide social services to those cursed with lycanthropy.    
He hoped that Remus, as a beloved professor, would make a statement in support of the new Registry and encouraging werewolves to join.   
After promising to think over Kingsley’s ideas and owl him if he thought of anything else, Remus began making his way through the crowd to where George and Dora were speaking near one of the large, sparkling trees.

When he approached, he saw that George was laughing while Dora gave him a glare that would have caused a lesser man to burst into flame.   
“What’s going on here?” Remus asked.   
George opened his mouth to speak, but Dora silenced him with a slap to the chest.    
“ _ Nothing _ ,” she said, rather pointedly, “George was just being a  _ colossal  _ git.”    
Remus looked at him confused, but before he could say anything, Dora grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the buffet.

“So, what was that back there?” Remus asked as his wife began filling a plate with finger foods.   
She shook her head and told him, “Nothing. George was just taking the piss out of me.”   
Remus picked up a plate and began following her lead, “Seems like he was really getting to you.”   
Dora closed her eyes and sighed, “Why do you think I wanted away so quickly?”   
Trying to sound casual, Remus asked, “So, what was he teasing you about?”   
“Should we take Ted one of these sausages?” she asked, pretending that she hadn’t heard him.   
Remus decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to not press her any further at the party.

When they went to the window to take a plate of food to Teddy, he was sitting against the wall playing with a stuffed toy that looked remarkably like a three-headed dog.    
Dora crouched down to show him the food and asked, “What have you got there, Ted?”   
“Fuffy!” he shouted with a grin, holding the toy out to his mother.    
She looked it over, then looked up at her husband. It was, in fact, a three-headed dog.    
“Where did you get that, son?” she asked again.   
Teddy, still all smiles, replied, “Hagid.”   
Remus threw his head back and laughed, “That makes sense.”   
While Dora sliced a sausage on Teddy’s plate, his father asked, “Did you tell Hagrid ‘thank you’?”    
Teddy nodded and reached for the food. 

At that moment, Remus felt a hand like a sledgehammer smack against his back, leaving him breathless for just a moment.    
“I see ye’v foun’ the gift I brough’ yer boy,” Hagrid’s voice boomed.    
Turning and smiling, Remus replied, “I should have known it was from you.”   
Hagrid laughed heartily, “I told him tha’ his name was Fluffy and tha’ he looked like one o’ my dogs.”   
Looking at the highly unusual toy, Dora asked, “Where did you manage to find a three-headed dog stuffed toy, Hagrid?”   
The towering man simply winked one of his dark sparkling eyes and said, “I have my ways.”

Some time later, while Dora and Remus sat at a table chatting with some of her coworkers and their dates, Molly pulled up a chair beside them.     
“Do you have plans for Christmas dinner?” she asked the couple.   
Remus looked at Tonks who shook her head. “Unless Mum has something planned that she hasn’t mentioned,” she answered.   
Molly smiled brightly at this, “Oh wonderful! You’re all invited to Christmas dinner at the Burrow!”   
“Molly,” Remus said, smiling, “we wouldn’t want to impose.”   
She dismissed the argument with a wave of her hand, “Oh, pish. Remus, you know that you’re no imposition. Harry and Hermione will be joining, too. Besides, we all have presents for Teddy and it would be so nice to see him open them. Andromeda’s invited, too, of course. Is she here?”   
“She was talking to Arthur earlier,” Dora said, looking around the room for her mother.   
Molly nodded, “I’ll find her and let her know that she’s invited as well. I’ll expect you around four. No need to bring anything.”    
With that, Molly was off to find Andromeda or fuss over George’s necktie– whichever she found first.


	8. Dora's Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonks is still thinking over what George said to her at the party earlier. Remus reassures her that everything will be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Earlier, my internet was so slow that I couldn't even load an internet speed test. That's not a joke. It was that slow.  
> So, I pulled out my backup internet and finally got around to posting something.  
> Thanks for your continued support!

The party last fairly late into the night, so Dora and Remus were ready for bed shortly after Teddy fell asleep.   
After tucking his son in and doing a last check around the house, Remus joined his wife in their bedroom.   
She was already changed into her pyjamas and was sitting against the headboard, reading a book.   
“Nice party tonight, wasn’t it?” he asked as he began to change his clothes.   
“Oh yeah,” she replied, closing her book, “food was great. Molly always outdoes herself.”   
“Decorated nicely, too,” Remus said, putting away his discarded garments.   
She chuckled, “You’d have never guessed that Ron and George were responsible.”   
“Speaking of George,” he said, pulling back the blankets and climbing into bed, “what did he say tonight that got you so upset?”   
Dora shook her head, “It’s silly.”   
She leaned over to put her book on the bedside table, “It shouldn’t have bothered me so much.”   
“It doesn’t matter if it’s silly, love,” Remus said, relaxing into the soft mattress.   
She laid down and rolled to face me, “It does, though.”   
“It does not.”   
“You’ll think I’m foolish.”   
Remus rolled onto his side so that he could look her in the eyes, “It’s something to do with the baby, isn’t it?”   
She avoided eye contact, so he knew that he had guessed correctly. “Love, I’m sure it’s not that foolish.”   
Dora sighed, “He was just teasing me about having twins.”   
Remus looked at her curiously, “So why does that have you so upset.”   
She punched at her pillow and tossed her head a bit, “That’s the thing. I don’t know. I just…it makes me nervous is all.”   
His arms reached out to hold her, “And having one baby doesn’t make you nervous?”   
She swatted at her husband’s chest, “You know it does. It’s just…different, you know? Twice the work and all that.”   
“It will be fine, Dora,” he said, rubbing her back.   
Dora sighed, “It’s just that…I have so much going on. I just got this supervisory position at work and Harry is at a crucial point in his training, it would be hard for him to switch to a new adviser at this point–”   
“Dora, Dora,” Remus interrupted, speaking over her so that she would stop adding to her list of stresses. “It will be fine. You’ll take your maternity leave when you need to. They’re not going to fire you. You won’t lose your supervisory position. Harry will be fine.”

She gave him a look that seemed to say that she wasn’t sure of all that he said. Remus pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, “The baby will come during the summer holiday. I’ll be home without anything to do but take care of you and Teddy and however many babies there are.”  
Remus moved his hands to her waist, “I mean that.”   
She smiled at him, “I know you do.”   
Dora squirmed so that she could reach his face to press a kiss against his lips.     
“Dora, we fought in a war. I think we can handle another baby,” he kissed her again, “With a little luck, we could even handle two or three more babies.”   
She chuckled and cuddled against his chest, “Let’s not get carried away.”


	9. A Lupin Family Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas with the Lupins and Weasleys!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is long and somehow even fluffier than usual!

The sun was barely over the horizon when a shout echoed down the hallway, “Muuuuuuuuuuuuum! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” followed by the patter of little feet on a wooden floor.    
Before Remus had a chance to think about anything, a mass hit the foot of their bed and continued calling, “Mum! Da! Wake up! It’s kissmas! Wake up!”   
Christmas was here.

This was the first year that Teddy had barreled into their room on Christmas morning, but something inside of his parents had just expected it. Perhaps it was just parental instincts.    
“Ah, Ted, the sun’s not even up yet,” Dora mumbled, pushing her face down into her pillow.    
Their son grabbed at the blankets of the bed and shook. “But presents,” he moaned.    
Remus turned to his wife and chucked, “The sun may not be up, but ours is.”   
She groaned, “He gets this from you, you know?”   
“Ah, yes,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek, “a bit more of your genes and we’d be celebrating Christmas morning sometime around 11.”   
Dora smiled, “What’s wrong with that?”

“Muuuuuuuuum. Daaaaaaaaaaa,” Teddy called again, sliding down the side of the bed and slumping onto the floor.    
“Alright, alright, son, we’re getting up,” Remus said, throwing the blankets down and beginning to stand.   
Teddy was by the Christmas tree before his mother and father had even made it out of their bedroom.     
“Is this one mine?” he asked, pointing at a wrapped box under the tree.   
“Wait for your mother,” Remus said, crouching down to his son’s level.    
Teddy hopped up and ran to his mother, taking her hand and dragging her toward the tree, “C’mon, Mum.”   
Dora just laughed as she let the little boy lead her.   
While he was pushing and pulling her toward a seat, his father checked a few gifts.    
By the time the boy rejoined him in the floor, Remus had two of his gifts sitting and waiting for him.   
“These are mine?” he asked, eyes wide.   
Remus nodded, but before he could say anything, Teddy was tearing into the packages with an animal-like fervor.

After Teddy had unwrapped his fair share of toys, clothes, and books from his mother and father, he gasped and ran to the back of the tree.    
When he returned, he had the two wrapped parcels from the tea shop.    
“Da!” he chirped, handing Remus one of the boxes then one to Dora, “and Mum!”   
Remus opened the box and pulled out a white mug with a red interior.    
“Oh, Ted, it’s fantastic!” he said, looking at the mug. It had a full-color Gryffindor crest on the front and the word “Dad” written in gold on the back.   
Teddy beamed at his father, then turned toward his mother.    
“Teddy! This is so cool!” she said wrapping her arms around him in a big hug, “Did you pick this out on your own?”   
He nodded, “I pay for it, too!”   
She looked genuinely surprised and looked at her husband for confirmation.   
Remus nodded, “He did…well, all but a few sickles.”   
“ _ Teddy _ !,” she gasped with tears in her eyes (which would certainly have been blamed on pregnancy hormones, should someone have asked), “You’re growing up so fast!”

The little boy looked prouder than ever.    
Meanwhile, Remus took a look at the mug he had bought for his mother.    
It was a solid light blue colour and said “Mum” on it in black.    
The package said that it would change colour from blue to pink when exposed to warm drinks.   
The boy certainly had outdone himself.

After they had finished our little Christmas morning celebration, the family flooed to Andromeda’s for gifts before the four travelled to the Burrow for the Weasley family Christmas.

“Teddy!” Harry said, ambushing them the moment we stepped off the hearth.    
“Harry!” the little boy returned, squirming in his mother’s arms, holding his hands out to his godfather.   
Harry plucked him from Dora’s arms and began carrying him toward the Christmas tree, “You ready for your present, Ted?”   
“Not yet!” Molly called from the kitchen, “Not yet, Harry!”   
Even from across the room, Dora and Remus could see Harry rolling his eyes. “Fine then, since Auntie Molly won’t let us open a gift yet, why don’t we have a go at some crackers?”   
Teddy cheered his approval and they headed to the couch where Ron was seated with a stack of wizard crackers.    
A series of bangs later and Harry was wearing a shiny green top hat, Ron  a gold-coloured crown, and Teddy a coonskin cap.    
Remus couldn’t hold back his laugh as the furry hat fell over his son’s eyes and he had to adjust it on his small head. 

“What prizes did you get?” Dora asked, sitting on a chair near the trio.   
Harry showed a set of bright orange gobstones, Ron had a bag of never-fail firecrackers, and Teddy was admiring a toy hippogriff that was currently flittering above the table.   
“Oh, wow,” Tonks said, “they’re putting better stuff in them than they did when I was a kid.”   
Remus left his wife with the boys and went to see if Molly needed any help in the kitchen.

After a massive dinner, everyone gathered in the lounge where the Christmas tree sparkled.    
Teddy and Victoire sat very close to it, eyes sparkling as they looked at all the ornaments and tinsel shimmering.     
“Mind if I give Teddy his gift now?” Harry asked, looking toward Molly.    
She waved a hand, “Go ahead.”   
With a big smile, Harry got into the floor with the children and pulled a large package out from under the tree and handed it to Teddy. “And here’s one for you, too, Victoire,” he said, handing a second, smaller parcel to the little blond girl. She squealed with delight as her father moved beside her to help unwrap the gift. 

While everyone was watching Victoire fawning over the toy unicorn Harry had given her, Remus heard the gifter telling his son, “Now, his name is Moony. Take very good care of him.”    
Remus whipped his head around to see his son, arms wrapped around a stuffed toy wolf that was larger than the little boy.    
“You didn’t,” he said, glaring at Harry.    
However, any anger Remus may have had dissolved when Harry said, “Of course I did” and gave a look that could have very well been James Potter, himself, reincarnated.

Over the next hour or so, everyone exchanged gifts, the children accumulating ever-growing piles of toys (well, other than the gifts from Hermione, Percy and Audrey, those were storybooks).    
When Teddy opened the gift from George, he ran over to his mother. “Mum! Quiich!” he shouted, showing her a toy bat and bludger, both made from foam.   
“Oh, yeah, Teddy. Quidditch,” she said, taking it from him and looking it over   
“Play now?” he asked.   
Clearly she intended to tell him that he needed to wait until the rest of the gifts were opened, but he gave her an eager look and she couldn’t help but surrender.   
“Here! Let me!” George said, moving over to sit in the floor in front of Teddy.   
He took the bat and showed Teddy how to hold it, “Like this, see?”   
Teddy nodded and took the bat from the former beater.    
“Right. Exactly,” George said with a smile, “now, swing that and hit the ball, okay?”   
Teddy nodded again. George pulled out his wand and charmed the foam bludger to rise from the floor. The little boy stared at it in awe.    
“Ready?” George asked.   
“Ready!” Teddy confirmed.    
Slowly, George moved the ball toward the little boy. With an almighty swing, he made contact with the bludger and sent it halfway across the lounge.    
George beamed, “You’re a born beater, Teddy!”   
Teddy laughed and smiled and ran across the room to fetch the ball, “Again! Again!”   
“You’ve still other gifts to open, dear,” Molly reminded Teddy, who immediately dropped the bat and ball onto his pile of gifts.

His final gift was from Ron, who had bought for him a foam quaffle.    
The rest of Teddy’s evening was spent tossing the quaffle with anyone who was willing to play with him.   
“I can play on my broom?” Teddy asked, looking in awe at the gift from the youngest Weasley child (other than Victoire, of course).   
Ginny had recently joined the practice squad of the Holyhead Harpies and had purchased a toy version of a top of the line racing broom for the young boy.   
Remus shook his head, “Not tonight, son.”   
Teddy looked disappointed as he tossed the red ball into his father’s waiting arms.    
Remus lobbed it back to him and offered a compromise, “How about, if the weather is nice, tomorrow we can go out and play on your broom?”   
As Teddy threw the quaffle back, he asked, “Play quiich?”   
“Whatever you’d like,” his father answered, which seemed to satisfy the boy as he was all smiles for the rest of the night.


	10. Lupin Family Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Dora go to the doctor for a check on the baby. Is a surprise in store?

One week after New Year’s Day, Dora had an appointment with a mediwitch at St. Mungo’s.    
Remus, who had been doing everything in his power to prove himself more reliable than he was during Dora’s first pregnancy, accompanied her to the hospital. 

 

“Not nervous are you?” he asked his wife who was perched on a bed in the small room.   
She rolled her eyes, “You only ask that when  _ you’re _ nervous.”   
Remus sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes right back, “I think I have a right to be nervous.”   
“Pft,” she scoffed, “you’re not the one with a baby inside of you.”   
“No, but I do have a vested interest in said baby.”   
“Fair enough.”   
They sat in silence for a moment before Remus spoke up again, “Hospitals make me nervous.”   
Dora nodded, but didn’t say anything.   
He continued, “I spent far too much of my childhood in a hospital. It was a decidedly unpleasant experience.”   
She reached over to place a hand over his.   
He finally looked up and made eye contact with his wife, “Thank god our children won’t have to suffer through the same.”   
  
Before Dora could respond, the door opened and the mediwitch entered.    
“Mrs. Lupin?” the short, dark-skinned woman asked, looking from her chart to the other woman in the room. Remus couldn’t help but grin when the mediwitch referred to Dora by his surname.   
He missed the woman asking his wife several questions about the pregnancy and her health over the past few weeks.    
“Alright,” the mediwitch said, putting down her paperwork, “let’s do a test and check on this little one, shall we?”   
  


With practiced skill, the mediwitch performed a wordless spell and passed the tip of her wand over Dora’s stomach. As she did, the tip lit up in an orange color that varied in brightness depending on where she pointed it.    
Remus watched for a moment, but could not understand what the light meant.   
“Hmm,” the mediwitch hummed, furrowing her brow in thought, “that’s unexpected.”   
“What?” Remus asked, half-standing and nearly turning over his chair, “Is something wrong?”   
A look of realization passed over the woman’s face as she moved her wand around Dora’s stomach a bit more. “No, no,” she said, “nothing wrong. Just unexpected.”   
Now Dora was concerned as well, “What is it?”   
“Mrs. Lupin,” the mediwitch said, letting the light on her wand fade, “I believe you’re expecting twins.”   
“Twins?” Dora gaped.   
Remus collapsed wordlessly back into his chair, “You’re joking.”   
The mediwitch gave a short chuckle, “I’m afraid not, Mr. Lupin.”   
One of Dora’s hands came to rest on her swollen abdomen, “ _ Merlin _ .”

 

After the appointment ended, Remus and Dora flooed back to their home. As soon as they had crossed their hearth, Dora started off toward her husband’s writing desk.    
“Owling your mother?” her husband called after her.   
Shaking her head, she replied, “George.”   
Before Remus could question her, he heard her shout through the open doorway, “Have we got any howler envelopes?”


	11. Spreading the News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The easy part's over, now Dora and Remus have to share their good news with everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully everyone enjoys this chapter.

After scrapping the idea of sending a howler to George, Dora and Remus returned to their respective places of work.  
That afternoon, Remus picked Teddy up from his nursery school; it was raining and cold, so they rushed home as quickly as possible.   
He sat Ted at the kitchen counter and went about preparing him a small after-school snack.   
Teddy was humming while he scribbled in crayon on a sheet of paper while his father sliced a pair of apples.

“What did you do at school today, son?” Remus asked, pouring some honey into a small bowl.   
He looked up at his father with a big grin, “I wrote my name!”   
“Oh did you?” Remus asked, bringing the apples and honey around to Teddy’s side of the counter and sitting next to him, “Let me see.”   
Carefully and clumsily, he began writing his name while spelling aloud “T…E…D…D…Y!”   
Biting into a slice of fruit and nodding, Remus asked, “Can you write your last name?”   
“Last name?”   
“You know, your name is Teddy Lupin. Lupin’s your last name.”   
“Ohh,” he said, nodding, “I can.”   
Again he took his crayon and wrote, “L…U…P…I…N.”   
Remus smiled, “That’s good, but your ‘N’ is backwards.”   
He looked confused.   
“Here,” his father said, taking a crayon in his own hand, “it goes across like this. Top to bottom.”

Teddy nodded then asked, “How you write your name, Da?”   
“My name?” Remus asked, pushing the plate of apples closer to his son, “Let’s see. How about I write the letter and you tell me what it is?”   
“Okay,” he chirped, taking an apple wedge of his own.  
Remus wrote while Teddy spelled, “R…E…M…U…S.”  
“That’s part of your name, too, you know?” the elder Lupin asked.   
Teddy nodded.   
By the time that the plate of apples was consumed, the paper also had ‘DORA,’ ‘HARRY,’ ‘RON,’ and ‘HERMIONE’ written on it.

“What’s baby’s name going to be?” Teddy asked while Remus cleaned the dish and returned it to the cabinet.  
“Well,” Remus began, drawing out the word. Dora had told Harry (and by extension, the whole Weasley family) and was currently at her mother’s telling her the good news.   
It had been Remus’s duty to tell Teddy about the change to the plan, “the baby doesn’t have a name yet.”   
Teddy looked confused, “Why not? Baby needs a name.”   
Remus sat back down, “Well, you see, son, we don’t yet know if the baby will be a boy or a girl…or one of both.”   
He looked at me strangely, “Two babies?”   
His father nodded, “Yes, son. We’re having two babies.”   
Teddy’s eyes widened, “Two babies. That’s more babies than Linc Griffith has!”   
Remus had no idea who Linc Griffith was, but it was a bit concerning to him that there was some sort of baby arms race going on in the nursery school.

* * *

 

Some time later, while Remus was cooking dinner, he heard a slight pop that told him that his wife had arrived.   
A huff and the sound of a ‘phwump’ told him that she had collapsed into the chair previously occupied by Teddy.   
“How did that go?” he asked, turning to chop broccoli on the counter before her.   
She sighed, throwing her head back, “Well…I thought I would never get to leave.”   
Remus laughed a little, continuing his work.   
“No, really,” she said, reaching across the counter to steal a piece of vegetable, “she had a thousand questions. Wanted to know if I was eating right and exercising, if I was taking my vitamins, when we’d get to learn the sexes, when I would be going on desk duty–”   
“When are you going on desk duty?” Remus asked, raking the broccoli into a mound.”   
“Oh not you, too, Remus,” she groaned.   
He shrugged, turning back to the stove, “I’m not pressuring you to go sooner, I just want to know.”   
She walked up behind him, looking around me to see the food.   
He turned and gave her a peck on the cheek, “That way I know when to start packing you a special lunch.”   
Dora gave him a swat on the arm, “Sometimes I’m not sure if I have a husband or a maid.”   
Remus opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him before he could.   
“What’s for dinner tonight, chef?”   
“Beef and broccoli with rice.”   
“Oh, that’s one of my favorites. Smells a hell of a lot better than the stuff from the take-away near work.”   
“I figured that I’d make something to pep you up since you spent the afternoon dealing with Harry and your mother.”   
She nodded, stealing another piece of broccoli, “Yeah, I’m sure Harry’s told everyone he can by now.”

They jumped apart as a pair of pops came from their dining room.   
“What was that?” Remus asked, hand going to his wand on the counter.   
Dora already had her wand out and was facing the doorway, “It sounded like someone apparating. I’m going to check.”   
Remus listened carefully as Dora moved slowly into the dining room.   
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his wife laugh loudly and shout “Agh! Harry!”   
“What is it?” he said, leaning over the counter, keeping an eye on their dinner.   
Dora returned to the kitchen with a square pan and a piece of parchment.   
“The letter is from Harry, he says that Molly made this to celebrate our good news and that she ‘simply cannot wait’ until we are able to visit the Burrow and she can congratulate us in person.”   
Remus looked at the pan, “What exactly did Molly send?”   
Dora shrugged and pulled back the covering of the pan.   
They both nearly fell to the floor laughing when we took a look at the contents.   
Inside the pan was a lemon cake topped with smooth yellow frosting and, piped in bright purple, the words ‘Good luck.’


	12. Sentimental Old Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is just a sentimental old wolf and his wife has a streak of sentimentality, too, but don't mention it if you'd like to avoid a hex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy this! I've loved the reviews I've been getting.   
> I'm sort of half-asleep right now since I just got in from buying groceries.

One night, after Remus had finished grading some papers and preparing for bed, he joined his wife in their room.    
She was propped up by some pillows, pouring over a book by the light of a lamp on her bedside table.    
Climbing into bed next to her, Remus looked over her shoulder and asked, “Anything good?”   
She shrugged, “It’s one of those ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’-type books. Which, admittedly, would have been nice the first go ‘round, but there’s nothing here that I’m not already aware of.”   
Remus nodded, looking at the page she was reading, detailing the baby’s growth during the fifteenth week of pregnancy. “Don’t suppose there’s a book on how to avoid birthing the next Fred and George Weasley, is there?”

She laughed and put the book on the table beside her. Extinguishing the lamp, she redistributed the pillows and slid beneath the blankets.    
He smiled, rolling over to face her. “How’s it going?” he asked.   
Even without light, it was obvious that Dora was rolling her eyes, “That’s an awfully strange question to ask your wife.”   
Pinching the bridge of his nose and realising that he had asked a rather silly question, Remus chose to clarify what I was asking, “With the babies, I mean. It’s been about a week since you’ve woken up and dashed straight to the toilet. That seems like a good sign.”   
Dora chuckled, “Better than you can imagine.”   
Remus reached over and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her toward him. Pressing his lips to her cheek, jaw, then neck, he said, “It’s been nice this time.”   
“Mm?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as he nuzzled against her neck.   
“You know, when you were pregnant with Teddy, there was a war going on,” Remus explained, “we didn’t have much of a chance to just…stop and enjoy what was happening.”   
Her fingers wove through his hair and she pressed a kiss to his cheek, then moved her lips to his ear.    
Remus continued talking, “It’s nice this time that we get a chance to just…appreciate your pregnancy.”   
She snorted in laughter and he rose to look her in the face, “That’s almost sickeningly sentimental, Remus.”   
“Well, you know me. I’m just a sentimental old wolf,” Remus said, smiling at my wife.   
“You’re lucky you said that now,” she said, teasingly, “because it you mentioned ‘appreciating my pregnancy’ when I was eight months along, miserable, and as big as a hippogriff, I would have hexed your balls off.”   
“I can’t imagine that you’d ever do that.”   
“Oh, no?” she asked with a challenging tone.   
Smirking, Remus replied, “No. As best as I recall, you rather enj–”   
A sharp elbow to his gut stopped his retort in the middle of a word, though he took it that she got the message.   
“I wouldn’t be so eager to finish that sentence, Lupin,” she warned, “or you might not make it to the eighth month of my pregnancy.”   
Remus rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him. “You won’t be rid of me that easily,” he said, holding her close.

A few moments passed with Dora nestling her head atop her husband’s chest, seemingly listening to his heart beating.    
Remus worked my hands up and down her spine over and over, never failing to smile when the sensation caused his wife to shudder.   
“How much longer before we get to learn the babies’ gender?” she asked with a slight whining tone to her voice.    
He did a quick count in his head before answering, “Fifteen days.”   
“Have you given any thought to names?”   
He shook his head slightly, “Not really. Have you?”   
Remus felt her shrug, “Just a bit.”   
“Oh? What have you been thinking?”   
“Well,” she began, “I’ve been thinking about all the people that we lost that it would be nice to honour.”   
Sighing, Remus replied, “That is true, there’s been no shortage of loss in our family.”   
“But then,” Dora continued, “is that what we want? I mean…say we name a child after Sirius, would that be putting a heavy burden on the child to be a certain person or behave in a certain way?”   
With a scoff, Remus said, “I should hope not. Especially if we’re naming a child after Sirius. Can you imagine trying to discipline him?”   
“I’m serious!” she said, pouting with her chin resting on her husband’s chest.   
He smiled at her, “Dora, I think that what really matters is that we let them know that we’re proud of them no matter who they choose to be.”   
“Harry just requested that we not name a child after him. You wouldn’t believe the number of strangers who write to him saying that they’ve named their sons after him,” Dora answered.   
He nodded, “I think that can be arranged.”   
The room was silent for a bit before Dora spoke up, “If we have a girl, I’d like to name her after your mother.”   
Silence again as Remus let what she’d just say sink in.    
Dora had never even met Remus’s mother, only knew of her through his stories.    
For her to suggest this, it was not something that he had ever expected.    
His heart felt as though it would burst with the love filling it.    
Without a word, Remus pulled her up to him and pressed a searing kiss to her lips, trying to communicate just how much that meant to him.   
After they parted, she asked rather sheepishly, “Do you think she would appreciate that?”   
“She would love it, dearest,” Remus said, holding her tightly, “I love it.”   
Sighing contentedly against her husband’s chest she spoke, “As long as we don’t name them anything daft like ‘Nymphadora,’ I think they’ll be fine.”


	13. Breakfast and Baby Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Dora discuss baby names over breakfast and Remus lets his Marauder show just a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've not posted. This weekend has been busy. You've gotta go watch Wonder Woman. It's great. 
> 
> And I'm not just saying that because David Thewlis is in it. 
> 
>  
> 
> Though that is a major contributing factor.

As on most weekend mornings, Remus woke up before either of the other residents of the Lupin home. Deciding to make the most of his time, he headed into the kitchen to scrounge up breakfast. Eggs, toast, and sausage, he decided, would make for a perfectly adequate meal.    
Just as he got the sausage on the hob, he heard the sound of Teddy’s feet padding into the lounge. “Da?” he called out, looking for his father.   
“In the kitchen, Ted.”   
He ran into the doorway of the kitchen and smiled, “Foun’ you!”   
Remus looked down at his son and gave him a smile, “You did!”    
After giving the sausages a check, Remus picked up his boy and carried him to the table. Helping him into his chair and asked him, “How would you like your eggs today, Ted?”   
He thought for a moment (though about what, his father had not a clue, because Teddy only ever ate scrambled eggs)  before answering, “Scramb’ed.”   
“Scrambled, it is,” Remus said, giving Teddy a little salute before returning to the kitchen.   
  


Once Teddy’s egg has been scrambled, the sausage was fried, and the toast had been toasted, Remus called in to his son, “And which plate for you, sir?”   
“Blue one!”   
Dutifully, the father removed his son’s favorite blue plate from the dresser and arranged upon it a scrambled egg, sliced sausage, and half a piece of toast with some marmalade. Together with his little, blue fork and spoon, Remus carried Teddy’s plate to him.    
“Is your mother not awake yet?” he asked his son.   
Teddy looked around before shaking his head, “I go wake her up?”   
Before Remus could say anything, Teddy was out of his chair and racing down to his parents’ room.   
“Muuuumma!” Remus heard him shouting as he barreled into the room shared by Dora and himself.   
Shaking his head, Remus turned back to his cooking. Dora preferred her eggs fried with the yolks quite runny, so he intended to have the eggs ready by the time their son dragged his half-asleep mother to the table.   
“You are your father made over,” he heard Dora teasingly complain to Teddy. This was followed by the little boy’s laughter.   
Remus plated Dora’s breakfast and carried it in to the table.    
“Smells great,” she said, smiling up at her husband with her eyes still a bit foggy from sleep. Her hair, a blueish-purple colour, was messy from the bed and sticking straight out on one side.   
Remus leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple, “Morning, love.”   
She yawned in response and he returned to the kitchen to finish his breakfast.   
  


When Remus returned to the table, plate in hand, Dora was trying to explain to Teddy what marmalade was made from.    
“Well, no, we don’t usually eat the peel of an orange,” she said, seeming to question if her explanation had gone awry.   
“But we eat this?” Teddy asked, inspecting his toast closely.   
Dora nodded, “We eat this.”   
Teddy shrugged, seeming to have decided that was all the explanation that he needed and began munching the toast.    
“Oh!” Dora said looking across the table at her husband, “I’ve been thinking about names for the babies.”   
Remus raised his eyebrows, moving his attention from Teddy who was carefully drinking juice from his favorite blue cup to his wife who was looking rather forlornly at his cup of tea. “Is that so?” Remus asked, breaking the yolks of his eggs and tearing his toast into strips.   
“Mmhmm,” she said, nodding and attempting to slice a sausage that was rolling around her plate.   
“What, exactly, have you been thinking about?”   
“Well,” she said, giving up on slicing and stabbing the sausage with her fork instead, “I’ve been thinking, with them being twins, if we have boys we could name them Romulus and Remus.”   
“Oh very funny,” Remus said, rolling his eyes at his wife’s cheeky grin.    
She took a rather unladylike bite from the stabbed sausage and smirked at her husband, “What’s wrong with that?”   
“Well, for one thing, Ted’s middle name is already ‘Remus,’” he answered, “I’m afraid I would look rather self-centered if two-thirds of my children shared my name.”   
She laughed into her cup of juice before standing to carry her and Teddy’s now empty plates into the kitchen. Dora stepped around the table to her husband’s side, ruffling his hair and making a grab for his tea. “Ah, don’t think so,” Remus said, jerking it out of her reach, “No caffeine, remember?”   
Dora groaned, but surrendered.    
Remus followed her into the kitchen with his own plate. Coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, he spoke into her hair, “You’ve been reading up on your Roman mythology?”   
Remus didn’t have to see her to know that she smiled; she always smiled when she knew he was appreciating her cleverness and snark. “Maybe just a bit,” she said with a little laugh.   
“Well, then,” Remus continued, “then you’d know that Romulus and Remus is hardly appropriate for any of our children.”   
“And why is that?” she asked, turning in his arms so that she could see the grin growing on her Marauder husband’s face.   
“Romulus and Remus were raised by a she-wolf and I, as best I can recall, am not a she-wolf.”   
“No, I’d say you’re not,” she said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.   
Remus’s grin took on a cheeky quality of its own as he added, “And no matter how much you yelp and howl, you’re not exactly a she-wolf either.”   
“ _ Remus _ !”


	14. Second Trimester Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus worries about how to set up the babies' room, which means that the second trimester has officially begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh! I'm running out of prewritten chapters! I'm going to actually have to start writing?! What is this?!

‘Dora and I really have this pregnancy thing down to an art. She worries all the first trimester, I worry the second, and by the third, we’re both too tired to worry,’ Remus had thought to himself one Saturday a few weeks into January.   
His wife found him standing in the extra bedroom. He don’t know what he was doing in there, he’d mostly been just staring into space and worrying.    
“Remus?” she called from the doorway, breaking her husband’s trance, “What’s wrong?”   
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head, “Just thinking.”   
Reasonably, she tensed up.    
‘Probably expecting me to jump out of the bedroom window,’ he thought, sardonically.    
“Thinking about what to do for the babies’ room,” Remus said, hoping to assuage her of any worries that he might take flight.   
Her posture relaxed and she gave a brief smile before twisting her eyebrows in confusion, “What do you mean ‘what to do for the babies’ room’?”   
“Well,” he began, scratching his chin, “where to put all of this furniture, for one thing.”

She looked around the room and shrugged, “I think we could probably just shrink it, then put it in a trunk up in the attic.”   
With a nod, he added, “Do you think there’ll be enough room in here?”   
“Remus,” Dora said, rolling her eyes, “it’s not as though they’ll be born as fully-grown people. They’re  _ babies _ . I’m fairly certain that they could make do with a cot in the corner.”   
Remus sighed, “I don’t want them to ‘ _ make due _ ,’ Dora, I want them to be happy.”   
“Teddy’s happy with his room, why wouldn’t the twins be happy with this one?”   
“I don’t know, it’s just…”   
“You’re coming up with really strange things to worry about these days, Lupin,” she teased him.   
Remus smirked, looking at her, “I just want them to be happy.”   
“They’re babies, Remus. A big room won’t make them happy. The most expensive toys won’t make them happy. Little things make babies happy, you know that. Strange things. Noises. Hugs. Milk. You don’t have to go to such a big effort to make the kids happy, not Teddy or the new babies.”   
“Well,” he rubbed his jaw, “maybe I want to make you happy.”   
“Remus,” she sighed, leaning against her husband and clutching his arm, “all you have to do to make me happy is to be yourself.”   
He rolled his eyes, “And you’re always accusing  _ me  _ of being sentimental.”   
Dora punched him in the ribs, “It’s these bloody hormones.”   
Rubbing the spot where her fist had made contact, Remus laughed.   
“Laugh while you can,” she warned.   
“Oh, I intend to.”

Remus looked around the room, “We’re going to need another cot, aren’t we?”   
“Well, Mum bought Teddy’s didn’t she?”   
“Teddy’s cot was yours,” he shrugged.   
“We’ll buy one if she doesn’t,” Dora said, “but I still anticipate her buying it.”   
“And what colour paint?” Remus said, moving over to run a finger over the eggshell coloured wall, “or are we waiting until after the appointment to decide?”   
Dora shrugged, “I was thinking orange or maybe purple.”   
With a smirk, Remus said, “Of course you were.”   
“What’s wrong with orange and purple?” she said, putting her fist on her hips and giving him a look of challenge, “They’re not gender specific, not too babyish, bright, and cheerful.”   
“There’s nothing wrong with orange and purple,” he said, holding up his palms in defence, “They are very…what was it you said? Bright and cheerful. Very much like a certain someone I know.”   
Dora raised her eyebrows and looked at her husband expectantly.    
“Very much like you,” Remus said, pressing a kiss to her temple.


	15. "Do You Want a Brother or a Sister?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the eve of their Dora's next mediwitch appointment, she and Remus ask Teddy his preferences with regard to the babies.

Tomorrow’s was the big day.    
Dora’s appointment.    
The day they get to find out the genders of their babies.   
At dinner that night, while Teddy smashed his carrots into oblivion, Dora asked him, “Are you ready to know if you’re having sisters or brothers, Ted?”   
He looked up from his mashing and studied his mother, “Is baby coming soon?”   
Remus leaned his head on his hand, bemusedly waiting to see how his wife would explain this one to the young boy.   
“Er,” she began, gears turning behind her eyes, “no. No, the babies aren’t coming soon. But tomorrow we’ll get to learn if they’re boys or girls.”   
Teddy tilted his head to one side, thinking over what his mother had told him.   
She looked at her husband, hoping he would spring in to save the conversation.    
For a brief moment, Remus considered just smirking and letting her continue to flounder; then, however, he remembered how much more comfortable the bed was compared to the couch and decided to help. “Would you like brothers or sisters, Teddy?” he asked, turning to his son.   
He thought for a moment, playing with his thoroughly mashed carrots, “My friends are boys.”   
“So, would you like to have brothers?”   
Teddy’s eyebrows narrowed in thought, “Artie has a brother and they have to share toys.”   
“Well, yes, you would have to share your toys with a brother,” Remus said, shrugging.    
As if weighing his options, Teddy then offered, “Linc has a sister and she got new toys, so he doesn’t have to share.”   
Remus scratched the back of his neck, “Well, you’d probably have to share your toys with a sister, too.”   
Teddy scowled; the flaws in his method of deciding were frustrating him.   
“Maybe,” Dora offered, “you’ll have one of each, that way you’ll have the best of both.”   
“Sister and a brother?” Teddy said, leaning back in his chair, contemplating the concept.

Teddy continued thinking while his parents finished their meal.    
Finally, he spoke again, “What you want, Da?”   
“What what do I want?” Remus asked, not knowing that his son was still pondering the mystery of his new siblings.   
“Babies.”   
“Ah, right. Babies,” Remus said, scratching his chin in thought, “Well, I suppose I’d like at least one of them to be a girl.”   
“Why you want girl?” Teddy asked, looking confused.   
Remus shrugged, “Well, having a baby girl is a different experience than having a baby boy. I’d like to know what both are like.”   
The young boy frowned before turning to his mother, “What you want, Mumma?”   
Dora tapped her finger against her jaw for a moment, thinking, then said, “I don’t really know.”   
“You don’t?” he asked, looking surprised.   
“Teddy, you know it is perfectly alright to not be sure if you want a brother or a sister?” Remus asked.   
“It is?” he questioned his father.   
Remus nodded, “Of course it is. It’s also fine to want both.”   
He thought over what his father said before announcing, “I want both.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's short. At least two chapters posting tonight.   
> Sorry for not posting for the past few days, I've been out doing...not computer things.


	16. Dora's Marauder Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dora and Remus find out the gender of their twins. Tonks lets her Marauder spirit show. Never let it be forgotten that she is a blood relative of Sirius,

“Alright, Mrs. Lupin,” Mediwitch Underwood said, completing a sweep of her wand that checked the health of the twins, “I have another spell-scan I can perform that will tell us the gender of the babies, if you’d like to know.”  
Dora looked at her husband who was sitting in the chair next to the exam table.  
He reached over and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze of encouragement.  
She smiled, nodded, and said, “We’d love to know.”  
The dark skinned mediwitch smiled back and quietly said an incantation before moving her wand over Dora’s swollen midsection. As she did this, the end of her wand began to glow blue.     
“Blue means we have at least one boy,” she explained before moving her wand around, “if it stays blue, you most likely have two boys. If it changes to orange, orange means a girl.”    
The mediwitch moved her wand around about Dora’s stomach while everyone focused on the blue glow at the tip. Slowly and methodically, she moved it from one side to the other.    
Suddenly, the blue light abruptly changed to a carrot-orange.    
Remus let out the breath he had been holding and Dora chuckled a little.  
“Congratulations, you’re having a boy and girl,” Mediwitch Underwood said, turning to the Lupins with a smile.

* * *

  

After leaving the clinic and apparating back to their Hogsmeade home, Dora said to her husband, “We both said that we wouldn’t be into work until after lunch, why don’t we go down to the Hog’s Head?”    
Remus agreed and the two made their way to the pub, which was looking a fair bit more clean and cozy since Aberforth had agreed to accept some help around the place. The pair took a seat and it wasn’t long before a young man with scruffy sand colored hair and untucked shirt made his way over to them.    
“Professor! Tonks! It’s been too long!” a cheerful voice with a thick Irish accent called.  
“Mr. Finnigan!” Remus said, looking at one of his former students with surprise, “What are you doing here?”  
“You heard that ol’ Abe hired some help around here, right?” Seamus said, smiling, “That’d be yours truely.”  
Dora laughed, looking around, “Well, you’ve made this place look a sight better.”  
Seamus nodded, “Well, I can’t say I did it all m’self.”  
The young man took their order and returned to behind the bar.  

Within minutes, he returned, with a tray of food and drinks.  
While he was placing them on the table, Remus asked Seamus, “Are you enjoying your work here?”  
“Ah, yeah,” the young man said, smiling, “I like cooking. Like the customers. Of course, I like Abe. The discount on drinks when I’m off work is pretty nice, too. Pay’s alright. Enough to keep me in a flat. Covers a bit of Dean’s art supplies, too.”  
A group of young men entered the pub and Seamus turned to wave to them while they took seats at the bar. “Well, duty calls. Congratulations on the baby, Professor, Mrs. Professor,” Seamus said with a wink, taking his tray and turning to return to work.

As they ate, Remus asked his wife, “So, when are we telling everyone the news?”  
Dora thought for just a moment before saying, “We could stop by the Owl Post office before going back to work.”  
“Send a letter?” he husband asked.  
With a mischievous smile, Dora just said, “Something like that.”  
“Why do I feel worried about whatever it is you’re thinking?” Remus asked.

* * *

 

 After lunch, they headed to the Owl Post office.    
Dora bought some nice parchment and envelopes from the counter and brought them back to the table where her husband was waiting.    
“Could you do the writing? Just something short and polite. Address one to my mum, one to Molly, and just for fun, send one to Harry.”    
“And what, may I ask, are you going to do?” asked Remus, pulling over a quill and ink and looking at the parchment his wife handed him.  
“I’m working on some charms,” Dora said with the grin of a practiced troublemaker.  
 

_Andromeda--_

_Your daughter and I just returned from the mediwitch’s office._  
_We are happy to tell you that the babies are healthy and progressing as expected._  
_We would also like let you know that we learned the genders of the babies. This July, you will be grandmother to a new grandson and granddaughter._

_Yours,_

_Remus Lupin_

 

He wrote two similar letters, one to Harry and one to Molly, before handing the folded parchment to his wife. Dora stuffed them into envelopes and whispered a few spells before closing the flap.    
“What are you doing to those?” Remus asked, watching her with curiosity.     
She handed him the envelope addressed to her mother, “Open it. I have an extra envelope. I can redo it.”  
He looked suspicious, but took the envelope from her.    
Carefully and a bit nervously, he slid his finger along the seal of the envelope, tearing it open. As he did, the sound of party horns sounded and a blast of pink and blue confetti showered him.    
Some of the nearby owls ruffled their feathers in annoyance.  
Remus looked at the floor and noted that the pink confetti read ‘It’s a girl’ and the blue ‘It’s a boy.”    
“Clever,” he said, handing the letter back to her.  
She smiled, redoing the spells and sealing the envelope once more, “I think Mum will enjoy it.”  
“If she doesn’t blast it the second those horns begin,” Remus said dryly.  
She rolled her eyes, “Despite what you may believe, my mother _does_ have a sense of humor.”  
“Oh, I have no doubt that she does,” Remus said.    
Smirking, Dora took the quill from my hand and scribbled another note, stuffing it into an envelope and quickly murmuring a few spells, she turned to find owls for the letters.  
“What was that last one?” Remus asked.  
She shook her head, “Just some work stuff.”  
“‘Work stuff?’” he asked, “Why not send it from work?”  
Dora pretended to be too interested in looking at the owls to notice what he said.    
After sending off four owls, Dora and Remus went their separate ways to return to work.

* * *

 

When Remus arrived back in his office, he found an envelope sitting on his desk. He recognized the address as his wife’s.  
Was this the fourth letter she had sent from the Owl Post?  
What was it?  
He opened the envelope, a bit cautiously, and dropped it on the floor when it began to expand.    
A bundle of balloons, pink and blue mixed, burst forth from the envelope. Once completely free, they began raining the pink and blue ‘it’s a boy’ and ‘it’s a girl’ confetti.    
The note fluttered to the ground.  

 

_Have a good day at work._

  _\--Dora_

 

Remus shook his head and began working on counterspells to take care of the balloons and confetti.    
Unfortunately for him, his wife was a very talented spell-crafter and he could never seem to find anything that would end the deluge of confetti nor would it make the balloons stop following him wherever he went.  

While Remus was walking down a corridor of the castle, headed to the staffroom, his worst-case-scenario occurred.    
“ _Professor Lupin_ ,” came the stern voice of the headmistress.  
He turned to face her, “Professor McGonagall. And how are you on this lovely day?”  
Remus was doing his best to ignore the balloons and their showers of confetti.  

She gave him a look that he was very familiar with from his days as a Marauder, “Do you have an explanation for...this” she asked, motioning to the balloons.    
He shrugged, “Dora is...exceptionally good at crafting spells.”  
A small smile played at the corner of Professor McGonagall’s mouth, “Well, it takes a certain type of woman to tie down a Marauder.”  
Remus let a small chuckle slip past his lips, “I’ll make sure she removes the charms before I come back to work tomorrow.”  
The headmistress nodded, “See to it that she does.”  
She turned to leave, but paused for a moment, “Oh, and Professor.”  
Remus turned to face her, “Yes, ma’am?”  
“Congratulations on the news.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I told you that I'd post two tonight....I mean, technically, it's after midnight now, so this wasn't the same night...but still.  
> So, I had to make a little reference to one of my favorite minor ships, Deamus. I don't know that Dean and Seamus will ever appear again, but I do enjoy them as a couple and I've always really enjoyed Seamus. 
> 
> I edited this because something went wrong in my brain and I wrote that Seamus was Scottish instead of Irish. XD


	17. Baby Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Dora sit down and decide what to name their twins.

That evening, when Remus returned from getting Teddy to sleep, he found Dora sitting on the couch with a notebook.    
They had told their son the news over dinner tonight and he had spent the rest of the night in an excited frenzy.    
It seemed he was constantly bouncing around the house with their new little black kitten right at his heels.   
Remus couldn’t help but think that whatever his wife was up to would probably leave me wishing all he had to deal with was a hyperactive toddler.    
Dora’s questions would probably be much more difficult to answer.   
She had a Biro (which, when at home, she much prefers to a quill) in her hand and was tapping it against her chin.    
Remus sat in an armchair near her and considered picking up a book he had been reading, but decided that he should just leap in head-first. “What are you thinking about?” he asked Dora.   
She looked up at him and stopped tapping the pen on her jaw, “Huh?”   
“You,” he said, giving her a quizzical look, “you’re clearly thinking about something.”   
She sighed, looking at the blank paper in front of her, “Baby names.”

“Ahh,” Remus said, leaning back in the chair.    
She sat the notebook on the arm of the couch and he noticed that she had divided it into two columns with the word ‘BOY’ at the top of one and ‘GIRL’ at the top of the second.    
“Do you have any ideas?” she asked, looking at her husband with big brown eyes that he thought could have made him walk off a cliff if she asked.   
“Wh-? Ah. Er. No,” he stumbled, “No, I don’t think that I do.”   
Dora groaned, hanging her head, “Neither do I.”   
“Well,” Remus said, actually thinking now, “you had mentioned naming a daughter after my mother. I mean, if you still want to. That’s just something you said earlier…A…start, you know?”   
Her head shot up and she reached for the notebook, managing only to knock it into the floor.    
“Here, let me,” he said, picking up the paper and taking the Biro from her. Remus then wrote ‘Hope’ in the girl column. “So, that’s one girl name,” he said, looking back at her, “why don’t we try to think of one boy name?”   
She nodded and began thinking, “Well, we named Teddy after my dad and you, so…that’s that covered.”   
“Right,” Remus said with a twinge of sarcasm, “the three year old asleep in the other room is already named.”   
Dora swatted at her husband and he jumped back a bit, chuckling. “Don’t be an arse, Lupin,” she said, narrowing her eyes.   
“What about Alastor?” he offered.   
She stopped mid-swat and looked at her husband, “For…for Mad-Eye.”   
“He did train you,” Remus shrugged.    
Dora sat back on the couch, “More than train me, he…I mean…we’d have never met if not for Mad-Eye.”   
Sensing that she was growing a bit emotional (something she would surely blame on the pregnancy hormones), Remus reached over and put a comforting hand on her arm. “Not so much of an arse now, am I?” he teased with a smirk.   
She rolled her eyes and brushed off his hand. “Alastor’s good. He’d like that, I think,” Dora said.    
With her decision, Remus wrote ‘Alastor’ in the boy name column.   
“What about your friends?” she asked.   
Remus shook his head, “What about them?”   
“You lost so many in the war. Wouldn’t you…I mean, you were so close. Shouldn’t we–”   
“I suspect that Harry intends to name a son after James,” he shrugged, “I mean, that could be a while, but I wouldn’t feel right using that name before his own son gets a chance.”   
“What about Sirius?” she offered.   
Remus couldn’t help but laugh. “Sirius?”   
“Yeah. I mean, he was your best mate and my favourite cousin, seems right doesn’t it?” she reasoned.   
For a moment, Remus just stopped to think. It did seem right. Sirius was a big part in both of their lives, not to mention their life as a couple.    
Moody may have brought Dora into the Order, but it was Sirius who actually introduced Remus to Dora.    
Sirius was the one who encouraged Remus to spend time with Dora.    
It was fitting.    
Remus nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, Sirius would be a good name.”    
He wrote ‘Sirius’ as the second name in the boys column.   
“I don’t know about other girl names, though,” Dora said, rubbing her chin.   
“Am I to assume that ‘Nymphadora’ is off the table?”   
“’Nymphadora’ is so far off the table that it’s unaware that a table even exists,” she said with a glare.   
“What about ‘Andromeda’?” he asked.   
She shook her head, “Nothing against Mum, but that’s…I mean…her family and all. Not to mention that it’s just so damn formal. Can you imagine taking a little ‘Andromeda’ to nursery?”   
Shaking his head and going back to thinking, Remus said, “What about Molly?”   
“She has so many children,” Dora said, frowning, “It’s almost like Harry and James, you know? I’d love to honour her by giving her name to our daughter, but…”   
“I understand,” Remus said, crossing his right leg over my left one and balancing the notebook atop his knee, “I’m sure Molly would understand as well.”   
“Oh!” Dora said, springing up, “What about Professor McGonagall? She’s such a badass. I mean, a war hero, headmistress, took on Merlin knows how many Death Eaters, who wouldn’t want to be named after her?”   
Remus scratched his jaw, thinking, “She doesn’t have any children, either, so…not really any competition for naming.”    
Nodding, he wrote the name ‘Minerva’ in the girl name column.   
“Is that it then?” she asked, looking at the list, “Have we named our kids?”   
Looking at the list, there was a pair of male names and a pair of female names.    
“Well,” Remus said, shrugging, “we have names. We don’t have to decide on the names for sure just yet.”   
Absentmindedly, she rubbed her belly, “I like these names, though…I mean, if you do.”   
Remus nodded, looking at the list, “What order, do you think?”   
Without a second thought, she said, “Hope Minerva.”   
Smiling, Remus said, “That didn’t take much time.”   
“I told you,” Dora said, “I wanted to name our daughter for your mother.”   
Nodding, he offered, “Then how about Sirius Alastor?”   
“I like it,” his wife said with a nod, “Do you think they’ll like it?”   
“It’s a fair bit better than ‘Nymphadora,’” Remus said, with a wink.   
“Cheeky git,” she said, swatting at her husband’s foot.    
He turned to a blank page in the notebook and wrote two names in script before turning the book around to allow Dora to read it.    
She did so aloud, “Sirius Alastor Lupin and Hope Minerva Lupin.”   
Remus’s stomach did little flips both times she read the word ‘Lupin.’    
No matter how many times he heard it or read it, it still made him feel giddy to realize that he was actually a father. He wondered if that was something that every other dad felt.   
“I love them,” Dora said, smiling broadly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love making character names! Especially second generation characters in Harry Potter. Like, I've got family trees and stuff for characters who will probably never show up in this work. I have names and detailed backstories for characters who, if they are ever mentioned, won't play a big part in the story.   
> So, anyway, Sirius Alastor just seemed really obvious to me; those are people that both Tonks and Lupin were close to. As for Hope Minerva, I think that Remus would like to honor his mother in that manner. Professor McGonagall is also one of my favorite characters, so any excuse to shoehorn her into the story, I'll take. :)


	18. Harry Potter and the Lupin Twins' Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting news of Remus and Dora's planned baby names, Harry has a discussion with his former professor.

Remus had a lunchtime visitor in his office on the next Monday.    
“Mind if I have a moment, Professor?” he asked and it took Remus back to his first attempt at teaching.   
Harry.   
Remus nodded and gestured for Harry to come in and pushed aside the bit of lunch the professor had swiped from the kitchens earlier.   
“No need to stop eating on my account,” Harry said as he took a seat near Remus’s desk, then continued with a cheeky grin, “Mrs. Weasley says you still look as though you don’t eat enough.”   
Remus scoffed, “Molly shouldn’t worry. I look like this no matter how much I eat.”   
Harry just smiled with a look that seemed to indicate Molly worried over his weight just as often as she did Remus’s.   
“So, Harry,” Remus said, retrieving a chip from his plate, “what brings you to my office?”   
He looked unsure of what he was going to say much, a look that seemed as out of place on Harry’s face as it would have his father’s. They were usually the types that spoke before they thought, so this must be something of importance.    
Remus raised my eyebrows and nodded, urging Harry to just say whatever it was.   
“Tonks told me about the names you’re giving the babies,” he finally said.

Remus was sure he looked rather confused.    
He was rather confused.    
That didn’t seem like something Harry would have to think about before saying. “What do you think?” Remus asked, hoping to ascertain the purpose of Harry’s discomfort.   
“They’re brilliant,” Harry said with a smile, “Have you told Professor McGonagall yet?”   
Now it was Remus’s time to squirm, “Er…no. Not yet.”   
Harry smirked.   
The professor shook his head, “Rejoicing in my discomfort? You’re spending too much time with my wife.”   
Harry laughed.    
“What do you think of the boy’s name?” Remus asked, thinking that this might be more relevant to why Harry was in his office.   
With a smile, he said, “It’s fantastic. Can you imagine Mad-Eye in the afterlife? He’d be so proud when he heard that Tonks was going to name a son after him, but then just being absolutely livid when he learns that the kid’s first name is going to be ‘Sirius’?”   
Remus chuckled a little. “I keep imagining Sirius’s reaction to finding out that the son I promised to name after him…after a bit of drinking, mind you, will have the middle name ‘Alastor.’ I can almost hear him now shouting, ‘Moony! You can’t name the child after me  _ and  _ that old nutter! His name should be something regal and dignified, like ‘Sirius Orion Sirius Black Lupin.’”   
“Dad’s probably too busy laughing his arse off at them both to say anything.”   
“That sounds highly possible,” Remus said, smiling at Harry’s growing understanding of the Marauders’ dynamic.

Harry sobered just a little and said, “Speaking of. Tonks told me what you said about my dad’s name. Saving it for me to use for my kids.”   
Remus’s smile fell a bit and he wasn’t sure what he expected Harry’s reaction to be.    
Hell, he didn’t expect Harry to know– not that he was upset at Dora, it just wasn’t something he thought about.    
Remus nodded.   
Harry nodded, “I really…I appreciate that, Professor.”   
Remus wanted to tell Harry that he didn’t have to call him ‘Professor,’ but he couldn’t quite find his tongue.   
“It’s never really been a question for me,” Harry continued, “if I had a son or a daughter, I’d name them James or Lily. I never even thought that maybe you’d want to do the same. I mean, you were such good friends. I just…lived so long without knowing anything about them…it seems weird sometimes to know people who knew my parents.”   
Remus nodded, thinking about what his friend’s son had said. Thinking about how far he had come over the past 10 years.    
Softly, Remus spoke, “Sirius, James, and Lily were the closest friends I had for the majority of my life. I never thought that I would be able to have children, so I certainly never thought that I could honour them by naming a child for them. When we were in school, Sirius made me promise to name a son for him. There was never a question in his mind– I would grow up and fall in love and marry and have, as he put it, ‘a litter of werepups.’ When Teddy was born, it was just too important that we honour Dora’s father. I mean…it certainly takes precedence over my childhood friends. However, now, getting a second chance, I knew I had to make good on my promise to Sirius.”   
“Well, then,” Harry said after a moment of thought, “I’ll be sure to name my son James rather than Sirius. The world couldn’t handle two of either of them.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, the title is cheesy as heck.   
> Also, I think I'm about three chapters away from reaching the point where they're no longer pre-written. Unfortunately, that means there may soon be a longer wait between posts.   
> Not too long though! Well...I'll do my best.


	19. Valentine's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Dora go out for Valentine's Day.

After Andromeda had taken Teddy for the evening, Dora went to her and Remus’s room to get ready for the evening.    
Remus was, for the most part, ready, but he had no idea what their actual plans for the night were to be.    
“Dora?” he called, walking into the bedroom, finding her grumbling about one of her favorite maternity dresses not fitting as well as she remembered.    
Remus walked over to her and helped her adjust the garment and looked her over, “You look beautiful.”   
She rolled her eyes, “You’re just saying that.”   
Remus feigned insult, “I would never!”   
Dora only laughed.

“So,” he said, “what are the plans for tonight.”   
She looked at him in surprise, “You mean that you don’t have the whole evening planned out to the minute?”   
Shaking his head, Remus said, “I thought I’d let you pick some things. Go with the flow, you know.”   
Dora smiled, “It isn’t driving you insane to not have everything planned out?”   
Remus smoothed his shirt, a bit neurotically, “No. No, of course not.”    
It was a bit unusual. He did usually like to have plans. Especially for a night like this. A well-made plan leaves less room for things to go wrong, he thought.   
“When do we leave?” she asked.   
“Whenever you’re ready.”   
“And where are we going?”   
“Dinner.”   
“What are we having?”   
“Whatever you’d like.”   
She gave a wide smile before standing on her toes to kiss her husband, “You really are winging it, aren’t you?”

Dora turned and walked into the bathroom to finish getting ready for the night.    
As she did, she called over her shoulder, “I think I’d like Chinese tonight.”   
“Chinese?” Remus said, definitely surprised by her choice, “Doesn’t seem very traditional, does it?”   
“Blame your children!” she called back.   
All he could do was laugh.

Dinner was lovely. They managed to find a place that wasn’t very crowded at all.    
One of the many reasons that Remus loved his wife was that she valued good food over fancy ambiance.    
Which is good, because the place they dined was little more than a counter and a few well-worn tables.    
The food was excellent, though. Very satisfying.    
The restaurant looked like the type of place where one might find themselves after a night of hard drinking; the food would have certainly have been just the thing on a night like that, though.    
Remus however, managed to refrain from imbibing. It just didn’t seem fair to him to enjoy any alcohol while Dora was unable to do the same.

However, even without chemical assistance, somehow Dora managed to get him into a club for a little bit of dancing.    
The evening was wonderful. Remus didn’t know that it was what one might call ‘conventionally romantic,’ but it suited them.    
Two people who got married in an unplanned ceremony outside of a pub. Unconventional was becoming a bit conventional for them..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but be sure to look for another companion story for this fic! I'm posting it tonight.


	20. The Best Birthday Remus Could Never Imagine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teddy learns that today is his father's birthday and that he has no plans to have a birthday party. This is unbelievable to the youngest Lupin and he decides to join forces with his godfather to remedy this situation.

March the second dawned with no fanfare.    
There were no gifts, there was no special breakfast, nothing at all to suggest that this was Remus Lupin’s 42nd birthday.    
This was, to him, preferable to having another reminder of his age.   
Dora was working from home now, doing paperwork, preparing training exams, and making arrangements for exercises-- doing all the less-than-fun things that come with being in a supervisory position at the auror office. She was bored to near insanity and somehow managed to feel both restless and tired at the same time.   
Her husband had no intentions to mention his birthday, let alone make a big fuss about it.   
She told him, “Happy birthday,” at breakfast and gave him a kiss. Both expected that to be all the celebration for the day.

However, Teddy heard her. 

At a certain point in many people’s lives, they lose the desire to celebrate their birthday.   
That concept is completely beyond the understanding of a toddler when all that they associate with birthdays are gifts, cakes, balloons, and other positive things.   
When their son heard Dora wish Remus a happy birthday, he began asking, “When your party, Da?”   
No matter how many times his father told him that there was no party, the little boy simply would not accept that as the answer.

After work, Remus decided to stay late at school so that he could finish off all of his work before the weekend. He was doing his best to keep his weekends work-free so that he could spend his time helping Dora or playing with Teddy.   
So, he owled Harry to see if he could pick up Ted from nursery school.   
Little did he know the mistake he had made.

“Today’s Da’s birthday,” Teddy chirped as he and Teddy walked along the cobbled Hogsmeade streets toward Remus and Dora’s house.   
“Is it?” Harry asked, tilting his head, thinking.   
“He’s not having a party,” Teddy said, nodding, “I think he needs a party.”   
Harry grinned, liking the young boy’s train of thought, “I think you’re right.”   
At that, Harry turned and began leading his godson toward the Hog’s Head.   
“Where we going?” Teddy asked, looking in the direction of his usual route home.   
Harry began walking faster, “We’re going to Auntie Molly’s. I have an idea.”

When Remus arrived home that evening, he was greeted by a bevy of delicious smells.    
Roast with carrots and potatoes, sprouts, and Yorkshire pudding.    
He couldn’t remember the last time their house had smelled so wonderful.   
He walked into the parlor where his wife waved to him and offered a cheeky, “Happy birthday, love!”   
This prompted the other houseguests to turn and face the man of honor.    
Molly and Arthur were there, as were Fleur, Bill, Victoire, Percy, Audrey, George, his new girlfriend Angelina, Ginny, Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Harry (who had Teddy on his back).   


“What do you think of your party, Professor?” Harry asked, slinging an arm around his former defense against the dark arts teacher and resembling his father more than he would ever know.    
“Well,” Remus said, “It’s certainly...a surprise.”   
From his place on his godfather’s shoulders, Teddy chirped, “It was mine and Harry’s idea, Da!”   
Remus rubbed his chin, fighting a smile, “Of course it was.”   
“Yeah,” Harry continued, “Teddy was worried that you wouldn’t get a proper birthday celebration. We couldn’t have that.”   
Before Remus had a chance to speak, Molly made her way through the crowd. “Happy birthday, Remus, dear,” she said, patting his forearms, “Now, come along. We should eat before the roast gets too cold.”

* * *

 

Following dinner was a large chocolate cake and ice cream.    
Tea, coffee, and conversation continued on for more than an hour after that.    
Finally, the last guest (who was Harry, to no one’s surprise) decided that they had best leave the little family to their rest and bid them adieu.   
While Dora tried to make herself comfortable in her and Remus’s room-- a task which was growing more and more difficult by the week-- her husband took their son to bed.   
After tucking the little boy in, placing a soft kiss to his forehead, and shutting off the light, Remus heard his sleepy voice ask, “You liked your party, Da?”   
Remus chuckled, “I loved it, Ted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for making you guys wait so long. I've reached the point where I'm actually having to create content rather than just modifying pre-created content to fit the format of this story.   
> So, it is taking a little longer to make these chapters.   
> Hopefully you still enjoy them.


	21. Happy Birthday, Teddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus takes Teddy and one of his friends out to celebrate his fourth birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I've not posted in a while guys. Stuff going on outside of here. Not bad stuff, just stuff. Work, carpal tunnel, things like that.  
> Hopefully this helps make the wait a little less annoying...not that I think any of you are actually out there, like, waiting with bated breath for the next chapter of this story.

Days ticked by, the sun was out more often, the temperatures slowly began to warm, and (not that Remus would ever mention it) Dora grew larger. Though, it should be said, that is expected from one expecting twins.   
By the time April arrived, the days above freezing were vastly outnumbering those below. The tenth of the month dawned with scarcely a cloud in the sky, which was ideal because this was the day Remus had promised to take Teddy and one of his friends out to celebrate his fourth birthday.

The alarm clock woke Remus who was just thankful to get an extra hour or so of sleep; Dora, meanwhile, simply rolled away from the sun’s rays which were streaming through their bedroom window.   
Remus chuckled before leaning over to press a light kiss to her cheek, “Enjoy your sleep, love.”   
She smiled and mumbled, “I plan to,” before snuggling into her pillow.   
After making sure that he was ready for the day, Remus went into the kitchen and set about making one of Teddy’s favorite breakfasts-- toast with beans and bacon.    
Once everything was ready, he walked down the hallway to his son’s room and poked his head through the doorway.    
“Teddy?” he called out.    
Getting no response, he walked into the room, carefully avoiding stepping on a toy train which had not quite made it back into the toy bin. Remus reached his son and put his hand upon the sleeping boy’s arm. Giving him a gentle rock, Remus spoke, “Ted, wake up, son.”   
Slowly and reluctantly, the little boy’s eyes opened. It took a moment for Teddy’s eyes to adjust and clear from sleep.    
“Da?” Teddy asked, confused.   
Remus smiled, helping his son sit upright in the bed, “Happy birthday.”   
When it dawned upon Ted what Remus was saying, the little boy darted upright in bed and smiled at his father. “Birthday! It’s my birthday!”   
“That’s right,” Remus said, offering his arms to Ted, “Why don’t we go to the kitchen and have some breakfast. I made your favorite.”   
“Beans and bacon!” Teddy shouted, all but leaping into his father’s arms.    
“Shh, shh, shh,” the elder Lupin said, placing a finger to his lips, “Your mother’s still sleeping.”   
“Shh,” Teddy repeated, mimicking his father’s actions.   
With a grunt, Remus hefted the boy onto his hip and carried him to the kitchen.   


After finishing breakfast and helping Teddy get dressed in his Hufflepuff-yellow sweater and hat, Remus and his son headed out into the village.    
They made their way to the home of Teddy’s closest friend, Angus Decker.   
Gus was a boy slightly shorter than Teddy with a wild mop of blond curls atop his head.    
Once the friends were together, they began chattering between one another about school and quidditch and more topics than Remus could keep up with. Instead, the elder Lupin focused on keeping the young boys headed in the correct direction as they made their way from Hogsmeade up to the school grounds.   
Gus looked up in awe as they passed the gates and the hog statues mounted atop them.    
As the castle neared, the boys strained Remus’s arms trying to dash forward to see everything that they could.    
Students had started to make their way from the Great Hall down toward the pitch and Remus directed the boys to follow the crowds dressed in Slytherin emerald and Hufflepuff canary.    
“Who you cheering for?” Teddy asked his friend.   
Gus shrugged.   
Teddy took the opportunity to point at the badger on his chest, “I like Hufflepuff. My mumma was in Hufflepuff.”   
“My mum was in Hufflepuff,” Gus said, smiling at his friend, “I like Hufflepuff, too.”   
“Who you cheering for, Da?”   
“Well,” Remus said, looking around at the grounds full of students, “since I’m a teacher, I shouldn’t cheer for one team over another...but your mother would never forgive me if I didn’t cheer for Hufflepuff.”

The trio arrived at the pitch and Remus directed the boys toward the faculty stands and helped them up the stairs to the top.    
From where they were seated, the pitch spread out before them and the student stands were rapidly filling.    
It seemed that most of the stands were supporting Hufflepuff as the number of students in yellow far outnumbered those in green. Chants of “We love you, Badgers, we do!” rose from the lower stands and grounds around the pitch and were easily heard from the faculty box.   
“I see your wife’s hard at work corrupting your son, eh, Remus?” joked Wynne Merrick, the transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor house who had taken both positions after Professor McGonagall had moved into the office of Headmistress.    
“She’s a dangerous influence,” Remus said, smirking at the younger man.   
“You will tell her that I said ‘hello’, won’t you?” asked Professor Sprout, who had been listening in with a smile, “and that I’m very proud that she’s instilling some Hufflepuff pride in her son.”   
“Of course,” Remus said, nodding, “Though, I feel I should tell you that Ted has the same jumper at home in crimson with a lion on the front.”   
Professor Sprout laughed a little, then said, “I’ll pretend that you didn’t tell me that.”

The game was exciting. Teddy and Gus spent most of the time on their feet, cheering and doing their best to chant along with the other Hufflepuff fans.    
When Hufflepuff scored their first goal, the boys jumped up and down, hugging one another. The following goals received slightly lesser celebrations from the pair.    
However, the highlight of the entire game was when the Hufflepuff seeker made a dramatic catch, seemingly right out from underneath the hand of his Slytherin opponent, which took place right at eye level in front of the faculty box.   
Teddy and Gus cheered as loud (or louder) than any student in the stadium.

The group made their way down from the box and back across the pitch following a mob of students singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with arms slung across one another’s shoulders.   
“So, where to next, lads?” Remus asked, “Should we grab a bite to eat, then head to Honeydukes?”   
Both boys shouted their agreement with Remus’s suggestion, then they were on their way back down the path to the village.    
The three had a hearty lunch of Seamus’s cooking at the Hog’s Head, then Remus took them over to Honeydukes.    
Both boys came away from the candy shop with a bag bulging with candy. They took a short trip through Zonko’s. As a seasoned prankster, Remus knew exactly what items to refuse the pair. The first few things prompted groans and whines from Teddy and Gus, but after coming to the realization that such protestations did nothing to sway their chaperone, their complaints ceased.  

After shopping was over, the sun began to sink low in the sky and a cool evening breeze swept through Hogsmeade’s high street. Remus and Teddy walked Gus back to his house and the little boy was excitedly chattering to his mother about everything before they could even close the door.   
As they walked back to their own home, Remus put his hand on Teddy’s shoulder and the little boy leaned against his father’s leg.   
“How was your day, son?”    
Teddy took a break from studying the contents of his candy bag to look up at his father with a wide grin.    
The boy’s hair, which had been yellow and black spikes for the quidditch match, suddenly flared a bright turquoise.   
“This was the best birthday ever!” he shouted, throwing his arms up into the air, causing a half dozen gumdrops to fly out of his Honeydukes bag.   
Remus chuckled, “Be careful, there, son.”   
Teddy looked at the fallen candy with a touch of frustration before trotting to catch up to his father.

When they arrived at their cottage, Teddy threw open the door and shouted, “Mum! Hufflepuff won!”   
Teddy, shopping bags and all, started toward the lounge in hopes of finding his mother.    
“Shoes, Ted,” his father called and the boy stopped, dropped his parcels and clumsily removed his shoes. Remus did the same (albeit with a bit more grace) and hung his cloak by the door.    
Gathering up Teddy’s purchases, he followed his son into the lounge.   
“There’s my favorite little man,” Tonks said, as Teddy climbed onto the couch beside her.   
“And what am I, hippogriff dung?” Remus teased.   
His wife rolled her eyes while Teddy laughed.    
“Did you have a good day, Teddy?” she asked, turning back to the boy who was reaching out for the shopping bags in his father’s arms.   
Teddy nodded vigorously, “It was my best birthday ever.”   


As the young boy began telling his mother about the quidditch match, a knock came from the front door.   
“Keep listening, I’ll get it,” Remus said to his wife as he stood.    
When he opened the door, Harry stood before him, balancing what appeared to be a cake atop a small stack of gifts.    
“Hi, Professor,” he said with a wide smile, “Is Teddy around.”   
“He’s in the lounge with Dora,” Remus replied, smirking at how casual the young man still managed to act despite holding such an ill-balanced load.   
As Remus ushered Harry through the door, Dora called from the lounge, “Who is it, Remus?”   
Harry replied, “It’s Harry! And I come bearing cake!”   
“Harry!” Teddy called and they could hear him hop to the floor and begin running in their direction.   
“Hold on, Ted,” Remus said, catching his son before he could collide with Harry’s legs, “Let’s let Harry put all of this down, first.”   


Once Harry had managed to get everything transferred from his arms to the table, he turned and picked up Teddy, spinning him around.    
“There’s my godson,” Harry laughed, “You’re getting to be quite grown-up, Teddy. How old are you now?”   
Teddy paused for a moment, looking at his hand before holding up four fingers and smiling at his godfather.    
“Impossible!” Harry said, feigning disbelief as he stood a giggling Teddy in a chair.   
Tonks entered the room with a walk that was becoming more and more of a waddle with each passing day. “Wotcher, Harry!” she said with a smile.   
“Wotcher, Tonks. How’s it going for you?”   
Harry had been doing some field training over the past week, which was something that Dora had been barred from doing due to her pregnancy. Remus knew that Harry was trying his best to not bring the subject up around her because Tonks had been so frustrated that she wouldn’t be able to participate in a key part of her first trainees’ training.  
“As good as it can be,” she responded, smiling and resting a hand over her abdomen, “Did you make a cake?”   
“Did I-- No! No, Molly sent that! It’s for Teddy’s birthday, I’ve not even seen it,” Harry said, reaching to open the cover of the cake box.    
Inside was a vanilla cake covered with a bright red strawberry sauce and a few slices of strawberries.    
“Wow!” Teddy said, looking at the cake, eyes growing as wide as saucers.    
“Molly also sent this,” Harry said, digging out another parcel, much larger than the cake box.    
When he opened the second box, it revealed a roasted chicken and potatoes, charmed to keep warm during Harry’s journey.   
“I guess she sent something for dinner,” Harry said, shrugging, “The rest of these are gifts, though.”   
He pushed one of the packages toward the little boy and smiled, “Happy birthday, Teddy.”


	22. May the Second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A memorial is created for those who died in the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Remus and his family go to the dedication ceremony to share some important news with some important people.

“It is our hope that, by preserving the memory of those we lost, we will remember the darkness of the past and the senselessness of war,” Professor McGonagall spoke with an amplified voice, standing at a dais on a bright, sunny May morning.    
Remus cast his eyes down, studying his shoes for a moment, before closing them, doing everything he could to will away the tears threatening to fall.   
A hand-- his wife’s hand-- timidly reached across to grasp his forearm.    
He looked up and saw her dark eyes glistening and red rimmed. Further down the row, his mother-in-law took a deep breath and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief bearing the monogram ‘ET.’ Remus’s son sat between the women, looking from one to the other with concern etched across his little round face. Dora wrapped her arm around him and pulled him close to her side and whispered reassuring words to him.

After McGonagall’s speech was one from Kingsley, after which the crowd began to mill about and move generally toward a recently-constructed wing of Hogwarts Castle.    
Remus stood, staring at the gray stone building with tall oak doors propped open to allow entry. He took a deep breath that was meant to be steading, but came out shaky instead.   
Tonks’s thin fingers wove between his own and he looked up to see her, eyes puffy and the tracks of tears still evident on her cheeks. He wished he could make it go away-- make it so she would never cry again, but he was barely able to keep himself from crying.    
“You alright?” she said, voice cracking a bit.   
He spoke with lips that barely moved, “I need to go in. I need to see them.”   
She gave a sad smile, “I know you do.”   
Dora gave him a moment to gather his thoughts before saying, “I’m taking Teddy and going with Mum. I’ll find you after.”   
Remus nodded weakly.    
She gave his hand a squeeze before she released it and began following her mother into the building.    
Remus cast his eyes skyward for a moment, took a deep breath, then headed in as well.

The building was full of people, mostly lingering around the walls. It was a long hallway filled with portraits. In the center was a statue of a phoenix and on the far wall was a gleaming Hogwarts crest made of precious metals and stones in the colors of the four houses.    
Remus looked around the room, taking in everything that he could.    
A mob of red-headed Weasleys were gathered around one portrait and he could hear them laughing. It was a bittersweet sound.   
Dora and her mother had been off in search of another portrait and Remus soon lost sight of them in the crowd.   
He scanned the crowd once more before landing on a thin young man with messy black hair. Remus walked over to where Harry stood in a corner of the room.   
“You’ll come visit us every now and then, won’t you?” spoke a voice that Remus hadn’t heard in years.    
“You’ll be sick of me,” Harry said, smile evident in his voice.    
“And who’s that stranger over your shoulder, son?” asked a voice from the portrait in front of Harry.   
Remus’s former student turned to face him and gave him a bright smile that almost hid the evidence of the young man’s tears. “Professor!” he said, grabbing Remus’s shoulder and pulling him toward the corner.   
“Moony!” came two voices while a third said, “Remus!”   
Before Harry and Remus stood two portraits, one of Lily and James Potter standing together in the lounge of their home, the other of Sirius-- looking far less gaunt than the last time Remus saw him-- on the edge of the Great Lake.    
“It’s been too long, mate,” Sirius said with a smile.   
“We’ve missed you so much, Remus,” Lily said, an honest look of care on her face.    
Remus suddenly found himself very interested in his shoes.    
“You should tell them about your job, Professor,” Harry said, nudging the older man with his elbow.    
“Yeah, Moony,” James said, “what are you doing these days?”   
“I’m, er, I’m a professor here. Defense against the dark arts,” Remus said, looking up, almost timidly between the portraits of his friends.    
Sirius chuckled, “Glad to hear you’re back at it, never seen you as depressed as when you walked away from that one.”   
“I didn’t  _ walk away _ ,” Remus said, finally really facing the portrait of Sirius.   
“You did!” Sirius said, pointing at his friend, “You decided that people would suddenly decide you were a danger and you scarpered.”   
“People  _ did  _ think that, Sirius,” Remus insisted.   
“They don’t seem to think that now,  _ Professor _ ,” James countered with a smirk.   
Remus opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Lily, “As long as you’re happy, Remus. I’m sure you’re a wonderful professor.”   
“He is,” Harry said, beaming at his parents, “He was my favorite professor.”   
“You’re just saying that to be polite,” Remus muttered.   
James laughed, “Saying things to be polite is not in his DNA, Moony.”   
Lily elbowed her husband in his gut, “Speak for yourself, Potter.”   
Remus smiled, even if they weren’t really there, this still managed to feel like old times.   


After talking for a while, a red-head bobbed into Sirius’s portrait.    
“Fred!” the portrait’s owner barked, “What are you doing here.”    
Fred made himself comfortable, leaning back onto the grass in the portrait, “I got bored. Mum and the others went off to talk to Gideon and Fabian, so I decided I’d wander around and see who all was visiting today. I have to say, they’re a fair bit better site than that old crone who painted us all.”   
Sirius snorted, “You can say that again.”   
“Fred fits in far too well with these two,” Lily said, casting a glance toward her son and her living friend.    
Fred followed her eyes and gave a smile when he saw to whom she was speaking, “Hey! Harry! How are things going? Better not be doing anything untoward with my sister.”   
Harry blushed as red as a beet and shouted, “Fred!”   
Lily gave a pointed stare toward her son before Fred continued.   
“And Professor!” he said, seeing Remus, “where’s the missus.”   
Sirius held up a hand, “Excuse me, what was that?”   
“‘The missus?’” James repeated, “Moony, you’re married?”   
In response, Remus merely held up his left hand and pointed at the golden band on his ring finger.   
“Oh, how wonderful, Remus,” Lily said, smiling brightly, “Is she here? Can we meet her?”   


As if on cue, Remus heard the sound of his wife’s voice calling his name as she approached from behind them.   
Harry smirked, knowing that the conversation between Remus and Sirius was about to gain a new layer of interest.   
“Merlin’s beard,” Sirius swore, leaning forward toward the edge of his portrait, “Is that...Tonks?”   
Tonks smiled brightly as she grabbed her husband’s arm, “Long time, no see, Sirius.”   
Suddenly a strange expression crossed Sirius’s face, which turned a shade of puce. “YOU’VE BEEN SHAGGING MY BABY COUSIN?!” he boomed.    
Remus’s face turned red and he avoided looking toward Sirius.   
“L-Look at her! Moony! You-- you--”   
“You knew we’d been out a few times!” Dora countered, extending a finger toward her cousin.   
“There’s a difference between going out a few times and...and...and…” Sirius stammered.   
“You encouraged it! All you’d ever tell me was how great it was that I was taking Moony out and that it’d been ‘so long since he’d been with a bird, he might not remember how everything works’ and other...things that I probably shouldn’t say in public,” Dora argued.   
Sirius huffed and fell to the grass with his arms crossed across his chest.   
“Well, I for one am very happy for you, Remus and…” Lily said, looking toward the young woman.    
“Ah,” Remus said, “Where are my manners. Dora, this is Lily and James Potter. Lily, James, this is my wife who, for reasons I cannot fully comprehend, still prefers for most people to call her ‘Tonks.’”   
“Wonderful to meet you, Tonks,” James said with a smile, “Anyone who can shut Padfoot up like that seems a good fit for a Marauder.”   
“Do you know what you’re having?” Lily asked, nodding toward Tonks’s obviously swollen belly.   
“A boy and a girl,” Tonks said, smiling and gently placing a hand on her stomach.   
“Twins, eh?” Fred spoke, standing, “I need to go have a chat with Georgie about this.”    
With that, the young man exited the portrait in search of his brother.

“When are they due?” Lily asked.   
“July or June,” Remus answered, “Soon. She’s not even really supposed to be up and around, but…”   
“Your first, then?” James asked.   
“Er,” Remus’s eyes returned to his shoes, “No.”   
There was a slight strangling noise from Sirius’s portrait that both Remus and Tonks pointedly ignored.    
It was then that Harry stepped up, having disappeared a moment ago, with a little boy on his hip.    
“This one’s their first,” Harry said as the boy with purple-blue hair buried his face in his godfather’s neck, “and my godson!” Harry beamed with pride as he rested his cheek against the top of Teddy’s head.    
Remus stepped over and took his son into his own arms, whispering something into the boy’s ear.   
“This is Edward Remus Lupin--”   
“Teddy,” Tonks added.   
“Right, Teddy,” Remus said, smiling, “our son. He just turned four last month, didn’t you, Ted?”   
Teddy nodded, shyly, looking up a bit from his father’s shoulder.   
“Teddy, these are Harry’s mum and dad, your Auntie Lily and Uncle James,” Remus spoke softly.   
The Potters smiled at the little boy.   
“Hello, Teddy, darling,” Lily said, “Remus, he’s beautiful.”   
Remus chuckled, “He is now. He’s a metamorphmagus, like his mother.”   
“That certainly explains the hair,” James said with a little laugh, “He takes after his father, I reckon. I can’t imagine that any relative of Sirius’s is shy.”   
Dora smiled, “He’s only shy until he gets to know you. Isn’t that right, Harry?”   
Harry nodded, smiling.   
Remus turned Teddy toward the second portrait, “This is your--”   
“Unka Sirius!” the little boy said, pointing toward the portrait.    
Sirius’s head snapped up and he studied the boy carefully, “Wh-what’d he just say?”   
“Mumma! Mumma!” Teddy called squirming in his father’s grip, “Look! It Unka Sirius!”   
“He- he knows who I am?” Sirius asked.    
“Sirius, you were Dora’s favorite cousin and one of my closest friends, if you don’t think that we taught our son who you were, then you must not really know us that well at all,” Remus said a bit defensively.   


Sirius pressed close to the edge of the portrait, as close as he could get to Teddy, and studied the little boy. “Hi, Teddy. I’m-- I’m your Uncle Sirius,” the long-haired man spoke and Remus could have sworn that there were tears shining in the corner of Padfoot’s eyes.   
There was a moment of Teddy watching Sirius and Sirius watching Teddy while all the others watched them before Sirius’s head snapped up.    
“Hey, now, Moony,” he called, “I thought that I made you promise to name your first son after me.”   
Remus scratched the back of his neck, “Well, extenuating circumstances, you see.”   
Sirius huffed and rolled his eyes, making Teddy laugh, “Yeah, I get it, whatever.”   
“Were you not listening when Dora told you that we were having another boy?” Remus asked.   
“You mean…?”   
Tonks nodded, “Sirius Alastor Lupin.”   
Sirius gave a bark of laughter, “Alastor, eh? Have you told that to ol’ Mad-Eye yet?”   
Remus looked to his wife who nodded.   
With a smirk, Sirius stood and said, “I think I need to go pay the old man a visit and discuss it with him.”   
As Sirius left, Tonks turned to her husband, “He’s going to go start trouble, isn’t he?”   
In answer, Mad-Eye’s shout of “BLAAAAAACK!” could be heard from the furthest end of the hall.   
All James, Lily, Remus, Tonks, and Harry could do was laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was, of course, Remus's side of the story, the people he needed to tell about what he had become after the war's end. I wrote that because most of this story has been focused on Remus.   
> If anyone is interested in seeing Tonks's side of this-- her and Andromeda taking Teddy to meet his grandfather and telling Mad-Eye that she planned to name her second son for him-- let me know and I might work on writing that up as a sort of side story to this one.


End file.
